New Indiana HC Mike Woodson on renewing UK-IU rivalry: "Calipari and I have hinted at it"

It’s apparently that time of the year to talk about the Indiana-Kentucky Basketball rivalry.

According to Anthony Calhoun, who is the WISH-TV Sports Director up in Indianapolis, he recently spoke with the new head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers, Mike Woodson, who had some interesting comments about potentially matching up against the Kentucky Wildcats sometime in the future.

“(John) Calipari and I have hinted at it,” Woodson said, according to a tweet sent out by Calhoun. “But I would love to see it cause Indiana fans would love it. I would love to see it back if we can make it happen.”

https://twitter.com/ACwishtv/status/1390392346303504387

Kentucky and Indiana have not played against each other since the 2016 NCAA Tournament when the five-seeded Hoosiers took down the four-seeded Wildcats in the Round of 32 by a final score of 73-67. Kentucky currently leads the all-time series with a record of 32-25 and has been especially dominant since the early 90s. Over the last 23 matchups between the two schools, UK has lost just six of those outings.

But before that NCAA Tournament game in 2016, Kentucky hadn’t played Indiana since beating them 102-90 four years prior during the Wildcats’ run to the 2012 national championship. If you also remember, Indiana nearly raised a national championship banner itself when Christian Watford’s shot beat Kentucky at the buzzer not long before that during the 2011-12 regular season.

A disagreement over where to play the games between head coach John Calipari and then-Indiana head coach Tom Crean ultimately led to the cancellation of the matchup scheduled for the 2012-13 season. The series has been on hiatus ever since.

Even though Woodson has never coached a game of college basketball and is about to embark on his inaugural season with an Indiana program that has been on its heels the last several years, he’s leaning into the rivalry with Kentucky.

What are your thoughts? Will a fresh face in Indiana help rekindle this old-fashioned rivalry?