Indiana–Kentucky rivalry

Indiana Hoosiers–Kentucky Wildcats
  
Men's Basketball Regular Season History
First Meeting December 18, 1924
First Result IU 20 - UK 18[1]
Latest Meeting December 10, 2011
Latest Result UK 72 - IU 73
Next Meeting TBA
Total Number of Meetings 55
Largest Victory IU: 26 points (2005)
UK: 39 points (2003)
Current Streak IU 1
All-time Series UK leads 32-25[1]
Men's Basketball Post Season History
Last Meeting 2016 NCAA Tournament - Round of 32
Last Result UK 67- IU 73
All-Time Postseason Series UK 3 - IU 2
Men's Basketball National Success
NCAA Final Fours
  • Indiana - 8 (9th all-time)
  • Kentucky - 17 (3rd all-time)
NCAA Tournament Championships
  • Indiana - 5 (tied for 3rd all-time)
  • Kentucky - 8 (2nd all-time)

The Indiana–Kentucky rivalry is a college sports rivalry between the Indiana University Hoosiers and the University of Kentucky Wildcats. The rivalry between these two schools, located about 180 miles (290 km) apart, dates to their first college football game in 1893, and has continued across all sports, with the men's basketball series gaining particular attention. The football game was previously played for a wooden Bourbon Barrel trophy, which was discontinued in 1999.

Men's basketball

Indiana and Kentucky battled it out for the first time on December 18, 1924. Since 1969 the two teams have met at least once a season. The location of the game alternates between Assembly Hall in Bloomington and Rupp Arena in Lexington. From 1991 to 2005, the game was held at neutral sites in Indianapolis and Louisville. A scheduling conflict with Louisville's Freedom Hall in 2006 forced the series back to the schools' respective campuses. Of the 55 games between IU and UK, 48 have been played in December. There have been a total of six overtime games in this rivalry series, the most for any non-conference Kentucky rival. The rivalry has been the subject of substantial commentary and media interest. ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said of the rivalry, "Don't you get excited in the world of basketball thinking about Kentucky and Indiana playing? Two Goliaths, two elite programs."[2] Fellow commentator Eamonn Brennan called it "one of the great nonconference rivalries in the sport, which features the two storied, flagship, blueblood programs from the nation's two most basketball-obsessed states, states which just so happen to share a border."[3] The intensity of the rivalry is augmented by the proximity of Indiana and Kentucky. Although the two teams had played every season since 1969, a dispute over whether future games should be played at the schools' respective home courts or at nearby neutral sites led to the cancellation of the game for the 2012–13 season.

The Indiana–Kentucky basketball rivalry is all the more intense because the two schools have consistently been among the nation's elite men's basketball teams. Remarkably, in 11 of the 56 meetings between Indiana and Kentucky, one of the schools has been ranked number one, which is nearly 20 percent of the meetings. Kentucky has won eight NCAA championships and has appeared in fifteen Final Fours, while Indiana has won five NCAA championships and appeared in eight Final Fours. Combining for thirteen national championships over the last 72 years, Indiana and Kentucky have captured 18% of the national championships, nearly one every five years. Notable story lines of the rivalry also involve major upsets by both teams and high-profile, outspoken coaches, including Bob Knight and Adolph Rupp.

High-profile feuds and incidents between the schools programs have fueled the rivalry over the years. Indiana coach Bob Knight would frequently suggest that Kentucky violated NCAA recruiting rules. When asked about the rivalry by Kentucky announcer Cawood Ledford, Knight said, "You know, Cawood, with all the crap that has gone on down here over the years with recruiting and all, these games are not nearly as special to me as you might think."[4] Referring to UK's reputation for putting less-than-outstanding public citizens on the team, Knight later said, "I like to think of C. M. Newton [University of Kentucky Athletic Director] as the school's director of corrections."[5] After Knight kicked recruit Lawrence Funderburke off his team, he refused to allow Funderburke to play for Kentucky. When asked about the series in 1999, Knight claimed that it would be fine if the series were returned to the home courts and added, "Pitino complained because we didn't play in Rupp Arena. Rick had a tough time understanding that it was a game between Kentucky and Indiana, not between him and me."[6]

Notable games

The two teams met at the same venue one year later. Led by Alex Groza, Wilbur Schu, Jack Tingle, the Kentucky team undefeated in their three previous games posted a 61-43 win over a 4-1 Indiana squad.

Knight said the slap to the head was something he has done, "affectionately" to his own players for years. "But maybe someone would not like that," he said. "If Joe didn't like it, I offer an apology. I don't apologize for the intent." ... "Hall and I have been friends for a long time," Knight said. "If he wants to dissolve the friendship, that's up to him."[10] Knight blamed the furor on Hall, noting in his inimitable style, "If it was meant to be malicious, I'd have blasted the fucker into the seats."[11]

The loss for Indiana prevented what could have been back-to-back undefeated seasons and national championships as the Hoosiers went on to take the national title in 1976. Bob Knight would later said that this 1974-1975 team was the best he ever coached, even better than the undefeated national champions of 1976. The win put UK in the Final Four in San Diego, where they dropped the NCAA title game in what would be John Wooden's last game. Kentucky's win over Indiana remains as one of the seminal non-title victories in the history of Kentucky basketball. It is on USA Today's list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time.[12]

The somber Indiana fans [IU had lost the season opener to Butler] who made up about half the crowd of 38,197 at the dome the next day seemed to agree with that assessment. They sat quietly as the Kentucky faithful jeered the Hoosiers during warmups, waving an array of signs: CBS (CATS BY SIXTY)...INDIANA WHOSTERS...WHICH WAY TO BUTLER? To everyone's surprise, however, Indiana bolted to a 9-2 lead that got the fans—Knight included—all revved up. "That's about as excited as I've been about basketball for a long time," said Knight later. "I became a fan for five or six minutes." [14]

Following the win, IU led the all-time series 20-17. But it marked a turning point in the series for a while. From that game until 2011 Kentucky went 14-3 against the Hoosiers.

Video of Indiana fans reacting to the shot around the country went viral.[17] ESPN commentator Dick Vitale, who was covering the game for the network, said it was the "best game of the year"[18] and that "[t]he atmosphere there was unreal, as I felt the building shaking after Watford hit the shot."[19] According to Bob Kravitz, the win marked "a day when Hoosier Hysteria was restored to something akin to its former glory."[20]

End of series

In 2011 Kentucky coach John Calipari briefly discussed the possibility of ending one of Kentucky's annual games against rivals Louisville, North Carolina, or Indiana.[22] A last-second shot which propelled Indiana to victory over top-ranked Kentucky and another meeting in the 2012 NCAA Tournament (won by Kentucky) helped re-kindle the rivalry's intensity; however, Calipari and Indiana head coach Tom Crean were unable to resolve the issue of whether to play future games on the respective teams' home courts or at neutral sites. This prompted the schools to cancel their annual meeting for the 2012-13 season.[23] After IU athletic director Fred Glass reopened negotiations on May 10, 2012, Calipari rejected Glass's compromise to play two games at Lucas Oil Stadium and one game apiece at Assembly Hall and Rupp Arena, thus ending the series.[24]

Basketball results

Winning team is shown in bold. Ranking of the team at the time of the game by the AP poll is shown in parenthesis next to the team name[25]

Football

Main article: The Bourbon Barrel

Women's basketball

The Indiana Hoosiers women's basketball team played its first varsity season in 1971–72,[26] and Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball had its first varsity season in 1974–75.[27] The first women's basketball game between Indiana and Kentucky was on January 24, 1974 and an 88-54 win for Indiana, the season before Kentucky women's basketball became varsity. The Indiana-Kentucky women's basketball series was played annually on a home-and-home basis from the 1976–77 to 1990–91 seasons, except for the December 30, 1990 game played in Reno, Nevada for the New Year's Classic tournament hosted by the University of Nevada, Reno,[28][29] and again from 1993–94 to 1997–98.[28] After that, Kentucky hosted a game against Indiana on November 12, 2006, in which Indiana upset AP-ranked #21 Kentucky 54-51.[30] As of the 2014–15 season, this remains the final scheduled game in the series, and Indiana leads the series 13–12.[28]

Baseball

The first Indiana–Kentucky baseball game took place on April 16, 1903, an 8-5 win for Kentucky. The Indiana–Kentucky baseball series has continued even after the basketball series went on hiatus following the 2011–12 season, with one game a year between the schools.[31]

References

  1. 1 2 IU Press Release, 20 March 2012
  2. "A Sweet Rematch" (video). ESPN. 18 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. Brennan, Eamonn (3 May 2012). "The ridiculous end to Kentucky-Indiana". ESPN. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  4. Feinstein, John (1986). A Season on the Brink. MacMillan. p. 127.
  5. Herald Times. October 1990. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Reed, Billy (3 December 1999). "UK-Indiana Rivalry Too Big to Stay in One City". Lexington Herald Leader.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Brodess, Doug (9 December 2011). "College Basketball: Top 10 Performances in Kentucky vs. Indiana History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  8. "Recapping the rivalry". Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  9. Atlanta Constitution Journal. 28 February 1982. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. Laudeman, Tev (8 December 1974). Louisville Courier Journal. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. Delsohn, Steve (2006). Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography. Simon & Schuster. p. 96.
  12. Mike Douchant - Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002
  13. "Do you remember? The 10 best Indiana-Kentucky games ever. KentuckySports.com. Published March 22, 2012.
  14. Reed, William (13 December 1993). "Reversal of Fortunes". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Davis ejected after protesting non-call as Wildcats win". 21 December 2002. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  16. "Indiana Bests No. 1 Kentucky". Indiana Univ. Athletic Dept. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  17. "Fan Reaction to Indiana Beating Kentucky on Buzzer Beater". YouTube. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  18. "Q & A: Dick Vitale's enthusiasm for NCAA tournament is contagious". Los Angeles Times. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  19. Vitale, Dick (12 December 2011). "Indiana basketball back on the map". ESPN. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  20. Kravitz, Bob (10 December 2011). "Victory marks return for Indiana basketball". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  21. "Kentucky vs. Indiana Friday, March 23, 2012". BigBlueHistory.net. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  22. Tipton, Jerry (4 December 2011). "UK basketball notebook: Calipari's poll on ending rivalries riles traditionalists". Herald Leader. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  23. "Kentucky, Indiana to discontinue basketball rivalry". The Sporting News. 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  24. Brennan, Eamonn (May 30, 2012). "Letter: Calipari rejected new IU rivalry offer". ESPN. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  25. http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/Indiana.html
  26. "Year-by-year results" (PDF). 2014-15 Indiana Women's Basketball History and Records Book. Indiana University Bloomington. 2014. p. 93.
  27. "All-time results: 1974-75" (PDF). Kentucky Women's Basketball 2014-15. University of Kentucky. 2014. p. 143.
  28. 1 2 3 "Team-by-team history: Kentucky" (PDF). 2014-15 Indiana Women's Basketball History and Records Book. Indiana University Bloomington. 2014. p. 88.
  29. "All-time results: 1990-91" (PDF). Kentucky Women's Basketball 2014-15. University of Kentucky. 2014. p. 143.
  30. 2014-15 Indiana Women's Basketball History and Records Book, p. 99.
  31. "Year-by-year results." 2015 Indiana Baseball. pp. 29-37.
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