UK basketball season never ends. Why that might be healthy for us all.

With Big Blue Madness, the Blue-White Game and the first exhibition behind us, another Kentucky basketball season has begun. Since the loss to Kansas State ended last season seven months ago, the calendar has been crowded with decisions about entering the NBA Draft, the NBA Combine, the NBA Draft, the trip to the Bahamas, satellite camps, a train trip from Frankfort to Lexington, summer camps, an FBI investigation into corruption and subsequent trial and, of course, seemingly ceaseless recruiting updates.

This raises a question: Has the idea of an offseason become quaint?

Mathew Cope, one of the fans who camped out for Madness tickets, did not agree that it would be a good thing to take an extended breather from UK basketball each spring and summer.

“I can’t because I’m a Kentucky fan,” he said. “I’m watching this stuff all the time. I’m always on the recruiting websites. I don’t ever take a break.”

After a pause, Cope, 33, added, “I hate to say it’s a religion because I love Jesus. But it really is.”

Two university professors agree with Cope. Sports, in this case college basketball, resembles religion in many ways. Both have hallowed ground (Rupp Arena?), songs, holidays (Madness? the Final Four?) and prayer.

“There’s no offseason in religion, either,” said Dan Wann, a professor of psychology at Murray State. “You’re not supposed to take an offseason from your religion, right? Football, basketball, baseball, they’re the same way.”

Christian Brady, the inaugural dean of UK’s Lewis Honors College, offered an interesting counter thought about off-seasons.

“God says to rest,” he said in reference to the commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy.

Another UK fan, Rick Music, saw potential trouble with a never-ending basketball preoccupation.

“Some people are addicted,” he said. “They can’t let go. That’s not good.”

But the professors saw a positive side to never setting aside a rooting interest. Brady, an ordained Episcopal priest, said it is important for fans to stay connected.

“It’s part of human nature,” he said. “Humanity across culture and history, we create ceremony and ritual for ourselves. And it’s part of the human bonding experience. It draws us together.”

Wann said that Big Blue Madness illustrated this point.

“It’s not a basketball game,” he said. “It’s not even an exhibition game. It’s not even anything. Those fans are so happy to be there and share this thing they love with other fans. You look around that arena, it doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot of depression or loneliness or alienation.”

UK Coach John Calipari has offered mixed messages about off-seasons during this crowded house of an offseason.

“I wish we could extend the summer, make it nine months instead of two and a half or three,” he said at a satellite camp in Elizabethtown. “So I could have my toes up somewhere.”

However, when asked at UK’s Media Day this month about the benefits of playing exhibitions in the Bahamas, Calipari said, “I’ve been saying it for a number of years: why don’t we own the first two weeks of August? College basketball?”

When UK played exhibitions in the Bahamas in 2014, Calipari suggested that college basketball should “own” the whole month of August.

Calipari also called for college basketball to have a version of football’s spring practice.

The Drake Group promotes academic study as an important component of college athletics. Ohio University professor David Ridpath, a past president of The Drake Group, saw the need for players to have an offseason.

“We need to get back to at least something where you have a season and an offseason so these kids have a chance to blossom as much as they can as college students,” he said. “It really just comes down to control.

The coaches want to control the athletes. “It’s the most bottom-line profession in the world, right?” Ridpath said of coaching. “If they can be practicing 24/7, 365 (days a year), they’d do it.”

However, Ridpath conceded that coaches have made an effective argument for total control. If they are held responsible for off-court or off-field incidents, greater control is necessary.

To return to the theme of sports as religion, Brady cited a 2014 survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute. About a quarter of respondents said they prayed to God to intervene in a game and 48 percent said God rewarded devout athletes with good health and success.

Brady, who formerly was a dean at Penn State, said Beaver Stadium was considered hallowed ground. The fans there participate in call-and-response chants. He recalled a controversy surrounding the decision to prohibit the playing of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” at football games.

“It was like taking away a favorite hymn,” Brady said. Penn State ultimately decided to allow the playing of “Sweet Caroline.”

Luncheon leftovers

A crowd of about 700 attended the annual Tip-Off Luncheon in Louisville on Monday.

It was easy to think that maybe UK fans have an off-switch on their rooting interest. When John Calipari asked how many fans watched the Blue-White Game the night before, the response was tepid applause.

And when Calipari later asked how many fans traveled to the Bahamas in August to watch UK play, only a few hands went up.

The loudest applause of the afternoon? When Calipari told the crowd that the 31 former UK players signed to NBA contracts would make a combined $1.5 billion.

Book note

A new book titled “The Last Pass” is a must read for fans of the Boston Celtics and an entertaining read for all basketball fans. It chronicles the beginnings of the Celtics dynasty (11 championships in 13 season beginning in 1957). It is also a biography of point guard Bob Cousy that co-stars center Bill Russell and Coach Red Auerbach

Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp joined Cousy and Auerbach on a tour of France, Belgium, Greece and Germany in 1955. Besides conducting basketball clinics, the group visited “the Louvre, the Folies Bergere and, more discreetly, a Parisian sex house,” author Gary M. Pomerantz wrote.

At the sex house, the group saw a live performance that featured not two, but three participants. “Cousy knew that Rupp had a heart condition, and saw him throw a heart pill into his mouth,” Pomerantz wrote.

Jontay Porter

The news that Jontay Porter suffered a season-ending knee injury in a closed scrimmage last weekend added poignancy to a pleasurable conversation with the Missouri player at SEC Media Day.

Porter spoke optimistically about the upcoming season. When he went through the pre-draft process last spring, he learned about how professional players pay careful attention to their bodies. He gained a new appreciation for stretching, sauna baths and massages.

“You’re not going to McDonald’s and eating Big Macs,” he said with a smile.

Among the players he worked out with and against was former UK guard Malik Monk.

Porter anticipated “a fun year” in 2018-19 with the SEC returning more than 15 players who entered the NBA Draft and then chose to return to college.

“Every single night you’ll be going against a future pro ...,” he said. ‘I’m nothing but excited for this year. It’ll be a great year.”

Porter’s year ended with a non-contact knee injury. He tore two major ligaments in his right knee: the anterior cruciate and medial cruciate.

His family has a history of major medical issues. Of course, older brother Michael Porter Jr. played only 53 minutes for Missouri last season. Back surgery sidelined him.

A sister, Bri Porter, tore an ACL five times during her basketball career. Another sister, Cierra Porter, announced in June she would no longer play even though she had one season of eligibility remaining.

At SEC Media Day, Jontay explained why he chose to return to Missouri.

“The main reason was I wasn’t sure I was ready for that lifestyle,” he said. “I was still supposed to be in high school last year. Just to enter that lifestyle: all the fame, all the money, all the attention. That’s hard to cope with on your own.

“I wanted to come back one year and grow maturity-wise and keep a good head on my shoulders. ... And hopefully be in that position next year when I can go into that world confidently.”

Happy birthday

To Dan Issel. He turned 70 on Thursday. ... To former Indiana coach Bob Knight. He turned 78 on Thursday. ... To Transylvania Coach Brian Lane. He turned 51 on Thursday. ... To former Georgia coach Hugh Durham. He turned 81 on Friday. ... To Aaron and Andrew Harrison. They turn 24 on Sunday (today). ... To Devin Booker. He turns 22 on Tuesday. ... To Michael Parks. He turns 48 on Tuesday. ... To former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer. He turns 89 on Tuesday. ... To former UK assistant coach Gale Catlett. He turns 78 on Wednesday. ... To former LSU Coach Dale Brown. He turns 83 on Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 28, 2018 at 5:11 PM.