Yes, college basketball is getting the Kentucky-Indiana matchup it needs
Since Kentucky and Indiana refuse to schedule each other -- just another story in an ancient, hostile rivalry -- the NCAA Tournament had to do it for us. And thank goodness for that.
By
Bill Reiter
•
3 min read
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Let's get this out of the way.
Indiana leveled Chattanooga 99-74.
Kentucky destroyed Stony Brook 85-57.
Good. Now on to the tantalizing stuff -- the drama, the hate, the fear, the single best potential match up of the week.
On to Indiana vs. Kentucky.
On Saturday, after a four-year absence that has robbed us of one of college basketball's best and most bloodthirsty rivalries, the Kentucky Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers will square up for the right to move on to the Sweet 16.
This is the college basketball version of Star Wars finally hitting theaters. Of Kanye dropping Life of Pablo if first he had sworn off music. Of that glass of lemonade Lawrence of Arabia demanded.
This is big.
"I think it's a great rivalry and one of the -- there has been a lot of great history with Indiana and Kentucky over the years and we've been privileged to be a part of it," Indiana coach Tom Crean said Thursday. "There's some -- there's been a lot of tremendous games. Obviously it's a rivalry because of the history of it, because of the proximity of the two states, but because the two basketball teams have been good when it's been at its best. So I would say that's the biggest thing."
That, and the fact that out of hubris, animosity and ever-perplexing finger pointing, the two programs have not faced one another since 2012. Four long years, not just for those fans but for all of us who love high-level sports with the right mix of history, animus and talent.
"I didn't want to play home-and-home," Kentucky's John Calipari said. "I told them we would play two years in Indianapolis if you want. I didn't want to play home-and-home. I didn't want to go there, and they didn't want to have to come to us. So that ended the series."
And now, for a day, it's back. On so many levels, this is the game we need. For starters, Kentucky and Indiana are both better than their allotted seeds, Nos. 4 and 5. Ken Pomeroy's highly regarded rankings have Kentucky as the nation's seventh-best team and Indiana ranked 14th. Indiana won the Big Ten outright. Kentucky stood atop the (not nearly as impressive) SEC with Texas A&M.
They have 13 national titles between them, and a history, until it was cut short, that ran from 1924 to 2012.
On Saturday, we get back what was lost, at least for 40 minutes. We get two blue-bloods who loathe each other squaring off in a game that features history, talent, two excellent coaches and enough angst that whichever team loses will bear a deep scar.
This game matters. Deeply. To both teams. Their silly Cold War with one another notwithstanding, Saturday's game is a treat for us -- and a real war for fans of these two teams.
That's in part because of the history. But it's also because the unfair seeding of both these schools means they're primed -- doesn't it always feel this way with Kentucky? -- to make a deep run. The East is tough, a region loaded with trouble in large part because both these programs are in it. And a win against the other is the kind of catalyst-providing moment that can turn either of these teams into potential juggernauts.
But first you gotta win. Against the team you hate. In a game that only happened because the selection committee had the right mix of a sense of humor and a sense of what the rest of us deserve.
So get ready. The last time these teams played it was Kentucky knocking Indiana out of this very tournament on the way to a national title. Before that it was an Indiana win over a No. 1-ranked Wildcats team in 2011 on a buzzer-beater that was as fine a basketball game as you can hope to see.
And what happens next?
We finally get to find out.
