By Kayla Pickrell

The crowd exploded on South Limestone, celebrating UK men’s basketball’s eighth national championship.

“I have one word for you: Dynasty,” Bo Biggers, a special education senior, said.

As soon as the Cats won the national championship, a woman knelt to the ground in the middle of the street and cried.

Followed closely behind was a fan who climbed the street lamp to cheer to thousands below.

“This is just a dream,” Priya Patel, a chemical engineering sophomore, said. “I’m so proud of our players.”

One fan donned a UK apron, nothing else.

Chants of “C-A-T-S Cats! Cats! Cats!” echoed down the streets and across campus.

“Bow down to the brow,” Shelby Lantz, a mechanical engineering sophomore, said. “It deserves its own religion.”

Crushed beer bottles lined the streets, yet no fans seemed to pay attention. They only cared about their basketball team.

“It is well deserved,” Teila Winburn, a nursing sophomore, said.

Meanwhile, police were trying to control the crowds from becoming violent.

“The emergency medical units were moved to the more volatile areas tonight,” Lexington police Lt. J.J. Lombardi said.

Before the game ended, police were cheering on the Wildcats with the crowds.

As soon as the game had three minutes left on the clock, police put their full riot gear on and prepared for the crowds.

“We were expecting the crowds to be just as rambunctious and along the same lines as they were on Saturday,” Lombardi said. “We were expecting around 8,000 people.”

The thousands gathered didn’t seem to mind the chaos, but seemed to embrace it.

A fan brought a silver-casted version of the “3 goggles” and would hold it up to his eyes up every time he tried to take a picture with police.

He even tried to get the police officers to join him. Some did.

One fan painted the “3 goggles” on his face in blue and wore a white cape with a “K.” He crowd surfed through South Limestone with cheers following him.

“This championship means everything to me,” Alison Carson, a broadcast journalism senior, said. “This is the best way to go out.”