Kentucky, scared of Indiana? Don't flatter yourself.

by:Corey Nichols04/26/12
I searched "Dangerous IU fan" for the heck of it, and this came up.  That's about how I imagined it. You all remember that game against Indiana this past season, right?  No, not the 102-90 offensive clinic that we put on them in the Sweet Sixteen en route to our 8th national title; the one in Bloomington where we played our worst game all season and lost by one point on a last-second trey.  Remember that one?  You may also remember that Darius Miller almost got trampled, and some poor UK fan legitimately got her ankle hurt in a court-storming that showed just how little the Hoosiers expected to win.  Well, now it appears that UK doesn't want to schedule any more games in Bloomington, probably to protect the well-being of players and fans, and HCTC is a little upset.  Check out a little excerpt from CBSSports.com:
The annual rivalry with Kentucky, though, could soon end if the two schools can't agree on where to play the games. From 1991-2005, the games had been played at neutral sites in Indianapolis and Louisville. Then the games were moved back to campus. Now the Wildcats, Crean said, don't want to play in Bloomington, where Christian Watford beat them with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in December. It was Kentucky's only regular-season loss. "The Kentucky game is still being talked about worked on, but it's not set in stone because, as many of you know, Kentucky doesn't want to play on our campus anymore and that's certainly not our first choice," Crean said. "Keeping it on campus is without a doubt our first choice and always has been since I've been here." A spokesman at Kentucky said the school had no comment and said the Wildcats' schedule was still a work in progress.
Excuse me, but "many of [us] know" what, exactly?  Crean sounds a little surprised by UK's desire to play at neutral sites, and I'm not sure why.  Rupp never gets stormed (because unlike IU, we always believe we can win), and Assembly Hall got that treatment twice last year, and I've already mentioned the risks that presents to all those in the building.  It simply makes more sense to put the passionate fanbases at neutral sites, where more fans have easier access to teams they love.  I love Indianapolis, and would consider going to a game there.  And fans in Louisville would have a great game in their backyard, without having to drive the 75 miles to Lexington.  Cal and Crean are buds, so I doubt that the IU coach is trying to attack Cal in some passive-aggressive manner, but it almost sounds like Crean is implying that the UK people are scared to play a team that has found its groove again.  Even renowned comment-writer cubsflan2 picked up on that insinuation:
Its funny that Uk doesnt want to play IU anymore because they know we are back. What a joke
I'll take this moment to point out how patently ridiculous that is (and I won't even mention the punctuation, which I'd give a solid C-).  Kentucky regularly schedules one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country, and last year played two of the Final Four, and four of the Elite 8 teams.  That includes North Carolina, Kansas, Louisville, and Florida.  It doesn't include Indiana, because they didn't make it that far.  The year before, we added future national champion Connecticut to the mix.  Let's be clear: Kentucky is not afraid to play anyone.  The decision not to play in Bloomington is not a basketball strategy, or a way to "protect" a non-conference win, it's a medical safeguard.  Learn to have some restraint, act like adults when you win a game, and maybe we'll come back.  Until then, we don't have to acquiesce to your whims.  Your non-conference needs us more than we need you.  Don't pretend otherwise.   Lastly, on a serious note, if anyone knows the name of that girl on the right in the picture of Anthony Davis with the big check from the News and Views post, please feel free to let me know. Yowza.

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