John Calipari digs in on refusing to have Kentucky schedule a game at Indiana
The Kentucky coach reminded everyone on Friday that he won't budge on this issue
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Kentucky basketball is never playing a road game at Indiana again so long as John Calipari is coaching UK.
Cal has made that point a few times before, and he reiterated it on Friday while appearing on "The Rich Eisen Show."
"No, we're not coming to Indiana," Calipari told Eisen and, essentially, any Indiana, Kentucky and college hoops fans listening. "Home and home is not happening. ... We talked about playing two years in Indianapolis and they said no. So, those, right now, these schedules are out ahead a couple years. It may be in the future. There may be something in the future."
The teams have not played in the regular season since the 2010-11 season, when Christian Watford's buzzer-beating shot knocked off Kentucky and signaled Indiana's return to national relevance. In the aftermath, many Kentucky fans in the building were hurt amid the court-storm, and it's been a non-starter ever since for UK to go back to Bloomington.
The teams have met twice since then, though, both times in the NCAAs. There was last year's NCAA Tournament (Indiana won) and also in 2012 (Kentucky won that one en route to the national title).
IU coach Tom Crean wants what's best for the sport: a return of a home-and-home between two of college basketball's five proudest programs. Calipari won't have it, though he is open to doing games on a neutral sites, like playing in Indianapolis, for example.
Crean and Cal, for the record, remain good friends and speak often. This issue is still at an impasse, though. For as long as Calipari is coaching at Kentucky -- three more years? Five? Ten? -- UK will not play a game in Assembly Hall.
"I'm not going to do anything home and home, and Indiana didn't want to do it," Calipari told Eisen. "Tom and I are friends, we talk all the time."
Cal has the power and authority to dictate this. It's a matter of Crean agreeing to go neutral, which would still be good for college basketball. If it happens in the regular season, the soonest we could see something like this take place is 2018, but even that seems like a pipe dream.
