Kentucky turning Indy blue

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By MICHAEL MAROT

Blue was cool at Friday’s Final Four open practices.

When Michigan State took the floor at noon, almost half the crowd was already clad in one color — and it wasn’t green.

And the droves of fans decked out in Kentucky gear arrived early, very early to get seats.

Anthony Smallwood left Columbus, Ohio, at 4:30 a.m. He arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium and 9 a.m. and the die-hard Kentucky fan was rewarded with a primo seat in the second row for the Spartans workout. He planned to stay in the same seat for more than 3 ½ more hours.

“I’m not giving her up,” he said. “It’s part of history, man, and I hope they make it.”

Smallwood is part of a large legion of Kentucky fans who consider Indianapolis a second home.

They dominated the colors at last year’s regional finals at Lucas Oil, and again in November when they thrashed Kansas in November at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, a short stroll from the Final Four site.

And while some of the blue certainly belonged to Duke, who practiced at 1 p.m., most, like Smallwood, were clad in Kentucky gear.

“I can’t afford a ticket to the Final Four,” Smallwood said. “So this is as close as I can get to the game.”