IU - Kentucky rivalry is over

[Danny Noonan]

Guess it would be to easy to go to home, neutral, home, neutral.

This is the most obvious solution to the situation. IU stayed with the series during lean times and UK dominated the rivalry for 20 years. Now that IU is back, Calipari just clearly does not want to play IU at all. He made a comment stating such either shortly before or after the December game on the Dan Patrick Show.

His reasoning is that UK plays a brutal preconference schedule (UNC, Louisville), which I respect and agree with, but it's an insult to fans in Indiana and Kentucky to end the series. These two states are the most passitionate for college basketball in the country and deserve better. UK plays in the worst BCS college basketball conference in the country (which has padded their overall win-loss record considerably for decades) so one would think UK wants as many tough matchups that they can get before their cupcake conference schedule starts.

With respect to UK fans getting harrassed at Assembly Hall, I know that it happened to a certain extent but there was nothing violent about it. As others have mentioned, if I went into Rupp Arena with my IU gear on, I would absolutely expect to get treated very poorly. It's part of college athletics and has been this way for decades. When IU played at Illinois 5 years ago, Eric Gordon had objects thrown at him.

[Frank Capua]

http://www.mrsec.com/2012/05/calipar...teams-at-home/

"But Kentucky’s love for neutral-site games is not limited to its rivalry with Indiana. John Calipari wants his squad to become America’s Team, playing in made-for-TV matchups on neutral courts whenever and wherever possible."

Is John Calipari on Crack?

[MoparsRule]

Calipari is such a d-bag....

http://www.coachcal.com/14391/2012/0...ional-program/

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...duling-to-fans

Cry me a freaking river.

[Truth Detector]

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

[MoparsRule]

And more of Calipari just being Calipari...

EVERETT, Mass. — The N.C.A.A. sent two members of its enforcement staff to Massachusetts this week to inquire about Nerlens Noel, who is the country’s top basketball recruit and has committed to play at Kentucky.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/sp...tml?ref=sports

[mstove]

I'm glad the Badgers don't go after one and done type players. Not that we'd get a lot of them, but I'm glad it generally isn't even part of the discussion.

[Frank Capua]

I keep checking this thread to see if Calipari had gotten back on his Thorazyne and the rivalry is back on... Bummer.

[pb]

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

"Yesterday the Lexington newspaper published this cartoon, taking a shot at Kentucky coach John Calipari's NCAA history and a recent contretemps over continuing the Indiana basketball series.
Predictably, Kentucky fans, the dumbest fan base in the country, took the jab with good humor, realized that cartoons are, you know, cartoons, and moved on about their business. (By "business" I mean faking how many children they have to increase their welfare payments so they can buy more UK2K t-shirts.).
Wait, that didn't happen.
Instead they reacted like religious zealot Muslims when a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad was published."

[Doyouloveit?]

FWIW, Pat Forde states Calipari offered to play the IU/Kentucky game every year at Lucas Oil Stadium, but Crean passed because IU only already plays in the Crossroads Classic @ Conseco.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--...Ip3_QdtFw5nYcB

[Truth Detector]

So?

They are still college teams. As such they should play on college campuses. Of course Cal wants to play at Lucas Oil. It puts him in the backyard of the hottest recruits in the country.

Doya, what do you think about Cal lying about having the Oil Can reserved for next year?

[rodneyh]

[url]
"But Kentucky’s love for neutral-site games is not limited to its rivalry with Indiana. John Calipari wants his squad to become America’s Team, playing in made-for-TV matchups on neutral courts whenever and wherever possible."

I remember once, Beano Cook had a line, the only ones that could get their own network would be Notre Dame and the USC Cheerleaders.

Does Kentucky even have significant drawing power out of the state?

If Kentucky played Michigan or Michigan St at Ford Field, would they even get 35,000?

[Truth Detector]

More.

Clearly, playing Kentucky means more to Indiana than playing Indiana means to Kentucky. ...a week after the series publicly severed tied, Glass sent a letter to Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart proposing the teams play at Lucas Oil for the next two seasons, then at Rupp, then at Assembly Hall.

[jabba19]

More.

Sounds like a fair compromise to me.

[Gomer Simpson]

Sounds like a fair compromise to me.

So you denounce Calipari for clearly wanting nothing to do with playing the Hoosiers, regardless of circumstances?

[jabba19]

I won't go that far, but this whole thing is sad.

[Truth Detector]

I won't go that far, but this whole thing is sad.

Agreed.

[Gomer Simpson]

Indeed. The good news is that Calipari has said before that he will only be coaching a few more years before retirement. I don't think the void in this rivalry will go on terribly long.

[Frank Capua]

Indeed. The good news is that Calipari has said before that he will only be coaching a few more years before retirement. I don't think the void in this rivalry will go on terribly long.

Yea, I was gonna suggest that Calipari will be gone through retirement, being banned by the NCAA or shot by a recruit before this went on for very long.