Ashland — With NCAA Tournament championship dreams in high gear, UK basketball fans aren’t afraid to spend their green for anything blue and white.

Local business owners say University of Kentucky merchandise has been in extreme demand in recent days, with customers so enthusiastic they aren’t even looking at price tags for anything that helps them say, “GO CATS!”

Tal Callihan, owner of R.J. Kahuna’s Sports Bar & Grill in the Kyova Mall, said he anticipates large and loud crowds during the upcoming tournament and has done everything possible to keep the party going.

“You have to over-staff and over-order food and alcohol. That’s about all you can do to prepare for it,” said Callihan, a UK fan who has thoroughly enjoyed this season’s action on the court. Callihan said he will likely have roughly double the usual number of servers on duty during all tournament games, and doesn’t rule out the possibility of pointing an overflow crowd toward their covered patio as the Cats make their climb toward the top.

Kentucky fans have found many friends, and friendly strangers, at the sports bar and grill as the young team has proven itself capable of handling the tough games.

“It is intense in here. I mean it is exciting,” Callihan said, describing the scene inside R.J. Kahuna’s during tight moments.

“To me, it has been a very exciting season — exceeding my expectations for such a young team. But it all goes back to the coach. He’s been a breath of fresh air.”

Carl Felty, owner of the Treasure Chest in the Kyova Mall, said he enjoys watching UK games on his laptop computer and hearing the powerful roars of the crowd from the nearby sports bar when the Cats do well.

“Yeah, it has been pretty awesome. They really get into it down there and that makes it much more enjoyable when I’m stuck in here,” Felty said, explaining he will be watching Thursday’s game at work but plans to put himself in front of a big-screen TV for Saturday’s action.

At his shop, Felty said all things UK from branded T-shirts to coffee and freezer mugs have been coveted by customers.

“They will buy anything and often they don’t even look at the price. If it has got UK on it they don’t seem to care,” he said. “They just pick it up and bring it to the counter.”

As a Wildcat fan, Felty predicts tremendous satisfaction for fellow enthusiasts during the days ahead. “I think they’re going to win it all. I really do,” he said.

Ashland Sporting Goods owner David Payne said demand for UK branded items has been growing on a daily basis. The shop owner said he has noticed a slight trend toward adults buying things for themselves instead of their children or grandchildren in recent days, possibly in anticipation of gatherings centered around the team’s tournament games.

“If you miss a game, you miss an event. It has been unbelievable everywhere,” Payne said, adding he watched Sunday’s game at a sports bar in Ironton and was impressed by the number of Kentucky fans on the other side of the river.

“It was nothing but UK fans — all blue! There were strangers high-fiving each other,” he said.

“I usually like to stay at home because I holler,” Payne said, explaining he has been enjoying spending time in the company of others who share his passion for the team. “It is so much more fun to watch with a crowd of people.”

Thinking back, Payne said he believes there is more UK excitement this season than fans showed during the 1996 and 1998 seasons.

“The enthusiasm is much more because, to me, it was totally unexpected,” he observed.

For a “mom and pop business,” Payne said the 2010 season has been “unbelievable.”

“Sales have gone through the roof daily,” he said, adding he has replenished his merchandise, prebooked championship T-shirts based on his confidence in a UK victory and set up a large UK Corner in the shop on Carter Avenue in downtown Ashland. Fans have bought everything from $1 pompoms to much higher priced UK jewelry, he said.

“There’s been a lot of bling going out of here. The ladies have been stacking them up on the counter,” he said, mentally calculating the collective cost of some of those recent purchases. “Kentucky fans, you know, are a different breed. Price doesn’t make any difference and I look for it all to pick back up on Thursday. I think there’s a ton of people from here going to New Orleans.”

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.