Next Wednesday, right before Kentucky plays its final game of the season at Rupp Arena, the Wildcats' only senior will burst through a banner bearing his likeness. He will meet his proud parents at midcourt, and then get serenaded by 23,000 fans singing an off-key rendition of My Old Kentucky Home.

But if long-spoiled Wildcat fans want to do something really different -- something beyond the simple tradition of Senior Day -- the Big Blue faithful will give a standing O to Saul Smith tonight -- not next week. Why wait? Considering what he has overcome, and what he has accomplished, it's the least they could do.

Photo: Brian Velenchenko

Late last month, Smith was booed by his own fans in his own arena, on the same night he scored a career-high 18 points as Kentucky won going away. You should have heard what Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings suggested Smith tell UK's fickle followers. (Hint: it had something to do with puckering up and rear ends.) You should have seen Donna Smith sit in frozen silence as the boos fell on her middle son. You should have felt what Saul felt.

Four days later, Smith was standing near midcourt in Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum, pretending not to hear the usual assortment of taunts. Some were clever, most were cruel. "You suck, Saul!" was the taunt of choice. "Daddy's little girl" -- a pointed reference to him and his father and coach, Tubby Smith -- was also heard. At one point, someone gave Saul the one-finger salute. A Kentucky beat writer asked: "Was that a Georgia or Kentucky fan?"

The best and worst thing Saul ever did was follow his old man to Lexington and play point guard. He did it because Tubby asked him to -- because, after all, it was Kentucky. He ended up closer to his father, with a national championship ring and a place in the UK record books as one of the program's all-time assists leaders. Saul Smith doesn't score much, doesn't dazzle you with anything. Unless you're a fan of a crisply made chest-pass, Smith isn't exactly "Play of the Week" material. He did it with limited athletic skills, but with a heart so big that you'd need oversized calipers to measure it. He has never once complained about all the abuse.

The last guy to take this kind of heat was Sean Sutton, who played for his father Eddie at Kentucky in 1988 and '89 and then followed him to Oklahoma State for his final two years of eligibility. Sean was booed twice during his sophomore year. He knows what Saul knows. "The stuff that comes out of people's mouths," said Sutton, now an assistant coach at OSU. "The happiest two years were the ones I spent at Oklahoma State."

Kentucky has won seven consecutive games since Smith was booed at Rupp. The Wildcats have gone from unranked to No. 13 in the latest poll. They are doing exactly what you need to do at regular season's end: peaking.

Southeastern Conference player of the year candidate Tayshaun Prince deserves much of the credit. So does Keith Bogans. Wildcat fans presumably still have plenty of chances to applaud the junior Prince and the sophomore Bogans. But Smith plays only two more games at Rupp.

Only two more chances to say thank you.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Read his feature on Saul Smith. E-mail Geno at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.