We've all heard the saying " Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words" at least a million times in our lifetime, this saying has never been more true when referring to one of the greatest college basketball rivalries known to man.
Dating back to 1924, Kentucky and Indiana have been the pillars of excellence in college basketball. With thirteen national championships, 4,173 wins, and only a total of 172 miles separating these two proud programs. One might ask, why do these two programs not play on an annual basis?
The answer to that question is complicated and not easily fixed by either program.
For Kentucky, it's all about playing on a neutral site and neutral site only. Following the 73-72 loss in Bloomington during the 2011-2012 national championship run, head coach John Calipari made a stern promise to never set foot back inside Assembly Hall for as long as he was in charge of the program. These remarks made after the alleged treatment that the Kentucky players and coaching staff received during their trip to Bloomington.
For the Hoosiers, they want a home and home series with the Wildcats, which given their success at Assembly Hall, makes sense. However, Indiana, unlike Kentucky, the Hoosiers are on outside looking in when it comes to elite programs, given, it's been nearly 33 years, without a national championship trophy, and 18 years, without a Final Four.
Both states, eat, sleep, and breathe basketball. For years, the rivalry between Kentucky and Indiana was the premier college basketball rivalry game throughout all of college basketball. The annual matchup between the Hoosiers and Wildcats was always must-watch television for basketball fans across the country. It was these games that would give us the likeness of Hall of Fame coaches such as, Bobby Knight, Joe B. Hall, Branch McCracken, Adolph Rupp, and John Calipari. It was these guys that would forever shape the landscape of this rivalry.
Often when you have two different programs that want polar opposite things regarding the rivalry, it's hard to get the ball rolling, but these two programs need to come together for a common goal. The entire college basketball world deserves for these two programs to play on an annual basis. Let alone these two states deserve to have a game in which they could have bragging rights for an entire year.
The solution might be complicated, however, both Kentucky and Indiana, need to stop with talk and let's throw the ball up and play the game of basketball, and showcase the true basketball capitals of the world.