Some rivalries are natural. Others are more traditional.
Some college basketball encounters, such as Kansas-Kansas State, Michigan-Michigan State, Indiana-Purdue, North Carolina-Duke, Cincinnati-Xavier and Kentucky- Louisville are among the top rivalries in the collegiate ranks. Others simply need to be rekindled, such as the Kentucky-Indiana series.
Long before Kentucky and Louisville began the “Dream Game” series in 1984 following an Elite Eight thriller in Knoxville in the 1983 NCAA Tournament between the instate rivals, Kentucky and border neighbor Indiana played each other yearly from 1969 to 2011.
Kentucky and Indiana have a history on the hardwood, but the two teams haven’t played in more than six years. The last meeting was five years after the yearly home-and-home series became a thing of the past when officials from both schools couldn’t agree on scheduling arrangements.
Reportedly, the two programs are back at the bargaining table and discussing what it would take to revive the series. A mixture of home and home dates and neutral-site encounters, similar to the one announced recently between Kentucky and Gonzaga, could revive a rivalry that younger generation followers of both schools know nothing about. They only hear stories from their parents and grandparents, who grew up watching games where arenas were split 50-50 in Blue and Red.
Most of those games were played in December. Kentucky currently is committed to the CBS Sports Classic in December, and most agree not participating in the event would be fine.
Neutral-site, one-day doubleheaders between four schools on a rotating basis in mid-December don’t have the same appeal as the Maui Classic or the State Farm Champions Classic in November. The Champions Classic, featuring Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State, and Kansas, isn’t going anywhere. The Maui Classic is always a feast on Turkey week.
Like many of you, I grew up watching Bobby Knight patrol the Indiana sidelines. When he wasn’t busy coaching, Knight threw tantrums and chairs and even slapped late Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall on the back of the head in the 1970s. Like him or not, he was the face of the Hoosiers and his presence added fuel to the fire in the sometimes-heated rivalry.
The games were fun to watch. Perhaps the most memorable one occurred in 1975 when the Wildcats stunned the Hoosiers 92-90 in the 1975 Midwest Regional finale, giving Indiana its first and only loss in 35 games that season. Kentucky advanced to the NCAA championship game, losing to UCLA in John Wooden’s last game as coach of the Bruins.
In addition to postseason games sprinkled here and there, the Wildcats and Hoosiers alternated their games between campus and neutral sites. From 1991 to 2005, they played either in Indianapolis or Louisville, before spending the next six years alternating between Lexington and Bloomington.
The storied programs have played each other just three times — twice in the postseason — since 2011. It’s time the two programs rekindle the fire and renew the rivalry.
Hopefully, talk between the schools will end with a long-term pact and more games in December to remember.
Keith Taylor is the sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com and via Twitter at keithtaylor21.
Let’s put some things into context. In 1975 Indiana beat Kentucky earlier in the year by 27 points. When they met in the tourney, Indiana was without Scott May. Their first team all American and player of the year in college basketball. And even with that handicap, the Hoosiers only lost by two points. There is no doubt that in 1975, Indiana was the best team in college basketball. That team was even better than the 1976 team which went undefeated and won the NCAA championship. Just so everybody has the facts.
Please don’t say the K-word. They, whose name shall never pass my lips, are “that school down south” or “that team from the SEC”, a la BK.