Tuesday was the final home game in Nate Sestina’s college career. It was probably the final home game in the brief Kentucky career of Tyrese Maxey, and likely the last of the atypical three-year term Nick Richards has enjoyed in Lexington. I’m sure they didn’t want to go out with a loss. They’re not alone.

I’m fortunate. As a junior, I can look forward to next year. I am not ending my Rupp Arena (at Central Bank Center, for the technical ones among us *rolls eyes*) witnessing a loss. Well, I didn’t Tuesday night anyway. But I know plenty who did.

The players involved garner the headlines. You know their names. Maxey is a likely NBA lottery pick – going No. 6 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in ESPN’s Jonathan Givony’s mock draft from mid-February. Ashton Hagans (36^th, also Minnesota) and Richards (50^th, Golden State) are second round picks in the same mock. Sestina aims to play professionally, whether in the NBA or elsewhere.

You don’t know the names of most other students. The ones who aren’t hitting threes, blocking shots or finishing dunks. The ones who are decked out in Blue and White, cheering their lungs out each night. The ones playing the fight song that BBN loves so much. The ones working their best to provide some of the best content on the team a fan could find. The seniors, for which Tuesday marked the end of their home careers.

Just like Sestina, they’re wounded at the core:

You don’t need me to recap what transpired. I’m sure you know every detail. That Kentucky led by 17 points with just under that many minutes remaining. That the Cats went 7-for-23 from the field after getting that massive lead. That the Vols roared back, making eight of their final ten shots to not only confirm the blowout BBN had been craving from this team was, is and may always be a mirage, but pull off the upset.

Seriously? The final home schedule for the class of 2020 not only started off with a whimper (I WILL spare the details of that one; you’re welcome) but fizzled out in a way most didn’t think was feasible: not to last season’s top-ten Tennessee team paced by Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, but to one that’s now 17-13 and, barring something absolutely bizarre, won’t even be dancing.

“Not the way I wanted to end,” said Kernel photo editor Jordan Prather who shot his last home game before his May graduation. “It’s been an experience for sure.”

Some handle the sad reality better than others.

“Obviously it stinks going out covering a loss, but the last couple of years in Rupp Arena have meant so much to me,” said Kentucky Sports Radio’s Maggie Davis, a graduating senior. “Just getting to be in Rupp Arena and getting to cover my childhood team has been amazing.”

“This is a game that I at least thought Kentucky was going to come in and win,” senior Kernel sports editor Erika Bonner said. “For them to come in and not win, and do as bad as they did in the second half… it’s something that I’ll definitely remember since it is my last game here as a college student.”

For those who have worked closer with the program, the sting is deeper.

“It’s just bittersweet. You expect your last game at home to be one you want to remember forever,” Zach Epperson of UK Sports Network told me. “[But] quite frankly, I’m going to try to push that out of my mind pretty quick.”

Then, there’s the combination: the biggest of die-hard fans, who takes pride in playing the fight song one night and covering the team the next.

That is Hayden Hooper. He has spent time covering the team for KSR and now covers it for Cameron Mills Radio. All of which comes between his duties in the band where he has played baritone for the last four years. If BBN was embodied by one person, it would probably be him. Like Jordan, Maggie, Erika and Zach, last night was his college finale.

And he had a lot to say.

Growing up around my grandfather and being a Kentucky fan really got me excited for the opportunity to be part of the magic that is Kentucky Basketball. I knew the band was for me after sitting behind it as I witnessed my first Kentucky game in Freedom Hall with John Wall. The fight song seemed more than a song to me. That moment happened at a time where I wanted to quit band. After seeing that, I knew it’s what I wanted to do.

I went through middle school band and high school band with the mentality that I’ll be in the band at Kentucky. When I got here, it was just exactly what I dreamed of. I got the best seats in the world for the games I always watched on my TV back in Louisville.

I’ll never again be a band member inside the place Adolph Rupp built. The home of the greatest tradition. It’s heartbreaking. Everything has to come to an end and today was the first step of saying goodbye to what I have loved for 13 years. That’s what this game meant to me. To many people, My Old Kentucky Home is just our state song. They don’t take it by its word. I do. I tear up thinking of “when my hard times comes a knocking at the door, then for my old Kentucky home, goodnight.” It’s the truth.

I’ll die having that in my mind. I know I will. When I see God for the first time, he’ll see Kentucky with me. Playing for that last time below the banners will be something I never forget.

I love Rupp Arena. I love the BBN. Now I have to say goodbye.

Don’t worry Hayden. You’re not alone.