A reminder for Louisville: win, lose or draw, little brother will always be little brother

Stop what you’re doing and quickly tell me the last time Louisville beat Kentucky. Don’t think too hard, just spit out the first thing that comes to mind. Do you even remember? It’d be easy to forget, considering there were like seventeen fans in the stands at the KFC Yum! Center that day — the pandemic game, a 62-59 win for the Cards under Chris Mack in 2020. And as dreadful as that season was for the Cats, they still had a shot to tie it at the buzzer. Poor Olivier Sarr.

Before that, it was a 73-70 win for the red and black in 2016, again that the Yum! Center. Malik Monk had a shot to tie it at the end of regulation, but missed. The only other UofL win since John Calipari took over in 2009 has since been wiped from the record books thanks to Katina Powell and the stripper scandal, another three-point game at the Yum! with an 80-77 finish in 2012.

That’s three different presidents for three different wins, never away from home. And this isn’t just a since ’09 thing, even though it’s a nice cut-off point — UK leads the all-time series 40-17 and even 14-10 overall on UL’s home floor. This is just how it’s always been and why the little brother nickname is so fitting.

It all feels so different this year, though. Not in the Louisville is due, so Kentucky should expect the worst and hope for the best kind of way, but rather a Louisville sure is talking a lot for a program that hasn’t won anything of substance in a decade. Hell, the Cards just returned to the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2019, only to lose by a million in the opening round with the best home court advantage you could dream of playing 77 miles from your home gym. After throwing a temper tantrum on Selection Sunday, they looked right where they belonged as a No. 8 seed.

Their previous March Madness experience includes a double-digit loss to No. 10 seed Minnesota in 2019, then a second-round loss to No. 7 seed Michigan in 2017 as a No. 2 seed. In fact, with postseason runs from 2012 to 2015 all vacated by the NCAA, the last tournament win for the Cardinals officially recognized in the record books goes way back to 2009 — they were one-and-done in 2010 and 2011, too. Maybe that year is the perfect cut-off after all?

Look, Louisville has a great team this year, ranked No. 4 in offensive efficiency and putting up 105 points per game. The Cards are lightning-quick and led by six players averaging at least 10.5 PPG, a legitimate star and future lottery pick in Mikel Brown Jr. — handed to the program on a golden platter by Adidas, but that’s another story for a different day. And they’re admittedly well-coached, even if the guy hasn’t won a tournament game in his career. There is a real chance UofL pulls off a win tonight to end the five-year losing streak — the odds and analytics reflect that with UK going in as an underdog and the spread growing. That’s not my personal opinion, but the folks in Vegas aren’t stupid.

No matter tonight’s result, it’s a fanbase that could use some humility with an understanding that the only reason why this rivalry isn’t far and away the best in all of sports is because Louisville hasn’t held up its end of the bargain. There is more hatred between the two fanbases than Duke vs. UNC, Alabama vs. Auburn and Ohio State vs. Michigan — and even Celtics vs. Lakers and Red Sox vs. Yankees, if we want to take it that far — but the on-court product hasn’t been as good because the Cardinals haven’t been competitive, needing the once-per-president stars to align perfectly to get a bone thrown their way.

The reality is that as much as Louisville and its fans want to pretend they belong at the big kid’s table at Thanksgiving with Kentucky and the other blue bloods, it’d take another decade of winning to make up for the last decade of garbage just to participate in the conversation — and then another decade to be taken seriously.

Maybe another decade from there after watching your king trade out the red for blue.

You can’t just cut to the front of the line and act like you’ve been there the entire time, pretending that no one would notice. I know you’re excited about finally having an acceptable product to watch and the sport is better with Louisville actually having a pulse, but unearned entitlement is a tough look for a program that is five head coaches removed from being relevant.

Win, lose or draw, little brother will always be little brother. Tweeting through your feelings won’t change that.