Kentucky bails out of annual series with Indiana in basketball

Kentucky and Indiana have announced an end to their 43 year rivalry. Why terminate what is once again, thanks to Indiana’s return to glory, a fantastic match up that fans were treated to every year? Because Kentucky was too afraid to play Indiana at Assembly Hall again. That’s right. You see the Wildcats were ok with continuing the series if the games would be played on a neutral court. What’s the matter John Calipari? Afraid of a tough non-conference match up? It seems that is the case because Kentucky is also dumping their annual match up with North Carolina.

That’s cool because nobody wants to see this again, at least not Calipari

While extremely disappointing, this news should come as no surprise because it fits John Calipari’s modus operandi – get out while the getting is good – very neatly. Just ask UMass and Memphis.

Calipari preferred the Indiana series be played on a neutral court. In a report on espn, Indiana Coach Tom Crean said, “The bottom line is that they didn’t want to play home-and-home and we did. We looked at it hard but it belongs on campus.”

In the same report Calipari bullishly proclaimed, “We were willing to play them both in the state of Indiana and they said no to that. That means they don’t want to play us.” In the state of Indiana means Lucas Oil Stadium which is a much safer haven for the Wildcats than Assembly Hall. Meanwhile the Hoosiers were willing to continue the series as a home-and-home which is the way it should be.

So a annual match up that has thrilled College Basketball fans since 1969 and was promising to be a real heavyweight bout in the coming years is over. A sad testament to John Calipari’s it’s all about me mantra. The only stain on his dream season that was capped in April with his first national championship was a lost at Indiana. Play that game on a neutral court, where Kentucky is likely to travel better and it is less of a threat to the Wildcats.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Kentucky plays in a watered down SEC that offers little in the way of resistance, they have now dumped their two toughest non-conference match ups. Calipari is flexing his muscle and imposing his will to the betterment of his tenure at Kentucky and the detriment of College Basketball.

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