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[QUOTE=jcb;491250]That's the way it was billed during the lead-in to the game this past year at Assembly Hall. I think almost everyone would agree with that unless they're wearing blue blinders.[/QUOTE]
If you go back more than 20 years, then it could be called a rivalry.
It's a great college rivalry. Yes, it has been a little one-sided in the recent years, but overall I think the series is split 30-something to 20-something, in Kentucky's favor. (Google it if you want the specifics. I'm sure there's a Wikipedia page.) There have been some outstanding basketball games over the life of the rivalry and I always enjoy a Kentucky-Indiana game. As much as I want to see us play Indiana every year...I also can't blame a head coach and an athletic director for competing in the battles that happen off the court. Those include recruiting and scheduling. Nobody forced Baylor to sign a deal with Kentucky for Cowboy Stadium and Rupp Arena. It's also quite strategic that some of the upcoming big recruits are from the Lone Star State. It's a chess game and we are fully engaged in it. It also sounds like we're not going to setup any commitments longer than 2 years to maintain flexibility in that chess game. Rest assured, any kind of cry-baby BS over fan activities in Bloomington this past season had absolutely no bearing on it whatsoever.
It is what it is.
[QUOTE]From Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart in regards to the future of Kentucky’s series with Indiana:
I was contacted by Fred Glass, Indiana AD, on May 10 via telephone about the mutual interest of continuing the series, starting this fall. He mentioned the possibility of a four-year series with the first two years in Indianapolis before playing in Lexington in 2014-15 and Bloomington in 2015-16. I informed Fred that we were disappointed that our previous verbal agreement for a two-year neutral site contract was off the table, but we would consider the new proposal. I also noted there were some challenges in our current schedule that were not present prior to Indiana’s announcement on May 3 that they were moving on with their schedule for 2012-13.
After May 3, we finalized a home-neutral series with Baylor for the next two seasons that included our women’s teams in a doubleheader in Dallas and restarted our home-and-home series with North Carolina beginning on the road in 2013-14. Those two additions to our schedule were made prior to hearing from Indiana on May 10.
During the process, DeWayne Peevy and I conducted a conference call with Fred Glass on May 21 along with Indiana scheduling contacts Chris Reynolds and Jayd Grossman to further discuss continuing the series. We offered the possibility of playing in Indianapolis on December 15 or 22 this season and possibly playing as part of a multi-team event in Indianapolis again in December 2013 while continuing discussions about a future home-and-home series.
On May 24, DeWayne Peevy expressed to Jayd Grossman our concerns about buying out either Portland or Samford and signing a four-year agreement. Jayd responded that he would talk with Fred about our concerns and also get back to DeWayne about Indiana’s availability on December 22. However, we did not receive a response until Fred Glass’ letter dated May 25 arrived this afternoon.
We currently do not have any agreements with more than two years remaining and would like to maintain the current flexibility of our future scheduling. If we entered into a four-year deal with Indiana, including the last two years at campus sites, not only would that alter our flexibility but it would also mean that we would have to end our home-and-home series with Louisville in order to keep our non-conference road schedule balanced. We are not interested in doing that.
We also finalized dates with both Samford and Portland that affected Indiana’s desire to play on December 5 or 8 this season. We did not feel that it was fair to Samford or Portland to pull out of a contracted game at this point in the scheduling process.
We have held the last two games on our current schedule while continuing discussions with Indiana about playing this fall. December 15 and 22 are still options for the upcoming season and Lucas Oil Stadium is available for both dates. In the best interest of our fans, I would hope we can come to a conclusion to continue this storied series this December.[/QUOTE]
Fans make it a rivalry, not the record for the past 20 years...If either UL or UK won the next 25 years in a row, it would still be a great rivalry because of people like us who would still crap to each other...I don't think the IU/UK game was that huge of a rivarly, but a small one that made for an interesting game and plenty of chatter for the fans to talk...I still think its stupid that they ended the game at all...Drop a friggin cupcake and keep those kinda games for us to enjoy
I have no dog in this fight but only have one thing to say. ALL coaches like putting easy wins on their schedules, it makes life alot easier. Calipari to me is the Billy Tubbs of today. He likes beating people by 50 points as is evident when he leaves his starters in the game with a 30 point lead and three minutes to go. Now please spare me the ''He's trying to teach his young players'' speech................Oh please.
He's done this everywhere he's been and he doesn't want Crean beating his ass. This year I do not think UK will be half as good as last year, if I'm wrong I'll admit it. He wants Mother Mary Sister of the Blind U to be on his schedule so he can lambaste them and poke his chest out, it's who he is and who ALOT of coaches are. He took alot of crap over that Hoosier loss last year alot.
Long story short.....................He's a little Skeered this year, lol....
I love the the comments by Glass the AD at Indiana, he threw Teflon John under the bus and parked it on him, LMAO.