You undoubtedly remember that magical day at Rupp Arena, 20K strong piling into the seats from top to bottom with several thousand more turned away with the building at max capacity. Mark Pope rolled in on the bus with his former teammates and legends of the program, showing off that 1996 national championship trophy to a roar from Big Blue Nation to officially introduce the former team captain as the next head coach at the University of Kentucky.

Nothing will ever compete with that feeling, let alone top it. A new era for the program got off to as impressive of a start as you can dream of, something out of a movie. Everyone came together as one under the same roof with a common goal of the banner-hanging assignment.

KSR’s Aaron Perkins captured that moment spectacularly that day, taking photos that showed off the chaos and wonder and pageantry, putting that ‘you just had to be there’ feeling on camera.

Fast forward nine months and local artist John Logan has hand-painted that very moment and shared a must-see video highlighting the step-by-step process, turning a blank canvas into a masterpiece. He will soon gift Mark Pope the painting.

“Commission for Coach Pope,” he wrote on his YouTube channel. “This specific picture was chosen by his family. I will give as a gift.”

Watch as he brings that photo to life below:

It doesn’t get any better than that.

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