Only three hours since fans could officially line up for Big Blue Madness tickets, approximately 290 tents have already packed the lawn around Memorial Coliseum and the Joe Craft Center.

Despite construction in front of the Joe Craft Center, fans have managed to find every inch of land to squeeze in and set up their tents, all in hopes of getting their hands on the coveted Big Blue Madness tickets.

Tents have already surrounded Memorial Coliseum and the Joe Craft Center, starting in front of the Joe Craft ticket center, wrapping around the front of Memorial Coliseum and down the far side (the Rose Street side). After the construction, the line picks back up in front of Wildcat Lodge around the blue basketball courts.

Once the space around Memorial Coliseum has been completely filled, fans will be directed to set up on Stoll Field, across from Memorial Coliseum. Fans will be directed to set up their tents on the numbered lines.

Though fans couldn’t officially get in line for Big Blue Madness tickets until Wednesday at 7 a.m., a large group of Kentucky fans started lining up on Lexington Avenue for the line to get tickets as early as Tuesday afternoon. 

Yes, you read that right. Fans were lining up just to get in line (somewhere John Calipari is saying, “You fans are crazy.”)

Fans were not allowed to officially line up on the property of Memorial Coliseum until Wednesday morning.

Control cards will be issued to those camped out on Friday at 2 p.m. with tickets set to be distributed Saturday at 7 a.m.

I will have more tent counts as the week progresses, along with some pictures of the action outside. UK estimated more than 420 tents surrounded Memorial Coliseum last year.

Can the Big Blue Nation break the record this year?