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Cal and Cuban talk IU-UK restarting series


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4 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

And as for Cal saying he offered different venues. I am calling BS on that.  It was IU and Mr. Glass that offered different venues to keep the series going. Numerous times. And I know for a fact, from a friend who was working in the IU Athletic department at the time.  Which Cal refused . FACT.

And as far as Mr. Cuban is concerned.... stay out of this.  Someday. Kentucky will come crawling back to reignite the series.  And I would say screw them. 

Honestly if that is the case then both us fans and the kids lose out. Kids go to programs to play in games that exposure of UK national audience provides and us fans don’t get to see the rivalry. 

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19 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

I know I am in the minority on this, but I hope the new AD scraps the Crossroads Classic (fat chance given who was hired) but that event is boring to me.

Agree.  The event just doesn't do well on the national stage.   I'm all for a home and away with either ND or Butler during the week.  Save that weekend date for a national opponent that people will watch.

Go Hoosiers!!!

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9 minutes ago, dgambill said:

Honestly if that is the case then both us fans and the kids lose out. Kids go to programs to play in games that exposure of UK national audience provides and us fans don’t get to see the rivalry. 

My response. Plenty of other great programs out there to take Kentucky's place. Just to name a few... Duke and UNC when not in the challenge.  Even Marquette, and Gonzaga or Louisville.  There are others. And even from the SEC... Alabama, Florida, and one team currently coached by a former IUHC. 

Naw. IMHO.  Rather than losing out.  Kids would be able to expand their expectations, should IU reach out over and beyond Kentucky.  Screw Kentucky.

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13 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Doesn’t matter. IU is on another level from those schools. 

Agreed...UCLA has that cache....we don’t just lose it because we hit a NC dry spell. Only one that can put us on their level is “US”...or our administration for not getting us out there and putting us from the national stage. Our admin has upped the money and facilities but to me it’s the next step to put us on that national stage at every opportunity. That is what I’m looking for in our next AD...amongst other things.

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6 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

My response. Plenty of other great programs out there to take Kentucky's place. Just to name a few... Duke and UNC when not in the challenge.  Even Marquette, and Gonzaga.  There are others. And even from the SEC... Alabama, Florida, and one team currently coached by a former IUHC. 

Naw. IMHO.  Rather than losing out.  Kids would be able to expand their expectations, should IU reach out over and beyond Kentucky.  Screw Kentucky.

We have no connection rivalry or otherwise with any of those schools. If we can’t get a game with UK who has a fan base that also wants the game what leverage do we have with those other schools. If they won’t sign a home and home with Indy and Louisville sites fine but this holding out for Bloomington is just bogus pride as we had it the other way for years.

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28 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Agree with you on the Crossroad Classic. I’ve never been a big fan of it and think it actually hurts IU more than helps. 

As far as UK, maybe I read the article wrong, but the way I read it was that it wasn’t really about renewing the rivalry, it was coming up with a fun, creative way to be the first game back once sports are able to resume, and Cal felt that being so close that UK-IU would make sense. It minimizes travel and exposure and they’re both big brand names that move the needle. 

Regardless, I just like the creative thinking from the head of a major program. I wish IU was as proactive with these things as some of the other big schools. 

This.

How cool and big would it be to play in the 1st game after all this crap?  And to renew one of the great rivalries in college basketball in doing so?  I really don't care where the game's played or if there are no fans.   

Go Hoosiers!!!

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1 hour ago, rico said:

I would be fine stepping away from the Crossroads as long as we played both N.D. and Butler every year.

Schedule is tight enough already. Conference play is Fri/Sunday of first weekend, Crossroad has been 2nd....3rd is usually a light game at home before or around finals...break for Christmas and right back to conference play. We essentially have Saturday available and we have to decide if national or local presence is more important. I'd like to schedule a national team....Arizona, UCLA, Kansas since the folks in the Bluegrass don't want to schedule.

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1 hour ago, dgambill said:

We have no connection rivalry or otherwise with any of those schools. If we can’t get a game with UK who has a fan base that also wants the game what leverage do we have with those other schools. If they won’t sign a home and home with Indy and Louisville sites fine but this holding out for Bloomington is just bogus pride as we had it the other way for years.

Love ya man. However, I have got to ask. If we have a rivalry. Why is Kentucky refusing to play us ?  One would think a rivalry team would jump at scheduling games years in advance.  Yet, despite IU's efforts, this rivalry is dead, thanks to Kentucky.  Again, screw Kentucky.

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16 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

Love ya man. However, I have got to ask. If we have a rivalry. Why is Kentucky refusing to play us ?  One would think a rivalry team would jump at scheduling games years in advance.  Yet, despite IU's efforts, this rivalry is dead, thanks to Kentucky.  Again, screw Kentucky.

One man killed it. I respect your opinion but just disagree politely. In the eyes of fans besides the few vocal minority on both sides who are too stubborn to meet in the middle the rest of the IU and UK fan bases want to play it. I’ve lived on both sides of the river for many years. A majority down there want to play it just as bad as we do....and they hate that we have gotten the best of them the last few times we’ve played. I respect your opinion...I’ve lived most of my life in southern Indiana including 10 years in Evansville. Then another 12 years in Kentucky....it may not be a big deal to Cal but it is to the fans on both sides of the river. The history and animosity doesn’t just go away because Cal canceled the game for a few years.

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5 minutes ago, dgambill said:

One man killed it. I respect your opinion but just disagree politely. In the eyes of fans besides the few vocal minority on both sides who are too stubborn to meet in the middle the rest of the IU and UK fan bases want to play it. I’ve lived on both sides of the river for many years. A majority down there want to play it just as bad as we do....and they hate that we have gotten the best of them the last few times we’ve played. I respect your opinion...I’ve lived most of my life in southern Indiana including 10 years in Evansville. Then another 12 years in Kentucky....it may not be a big deal to Cal but it is to the fans on both sides of the river. The history and animosity doesn’t just go away because Cal canceled the game for a few years.

Respect your opinion as well.  However it was not just one man.  The UK AD was a major player in ending this "Rivalry" series as well.

You are right. The fans are the losers in all of this. Howver, time for IU to move on... and forget that the UK "Rivalry" ever existed. 

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8 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

Respect your opinion as well.  However it was not just one man.  The UK AD was a major player in ending this "Rivalry" series as well.

You are right. The fans are the losers in all of this. Howver, time for IU to move on... and forget that the UK "Rivalry" ever existed. 

Cal and UK's AD were a huge reason the series ended but IU isn't without fault.  We could have easily continued the series at neutral sites.   But our AD and coach were just as stubborn.   This game was(and is) huge to a lot of people and both sides ruined that for fans and players.  College basketball needs rivalry games like IU-UK.  There isn't another school out there that we could play that would create a rivalry like that.

Go Hoosiers!!!

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Cal wanted an atmosphere that was slanted in his favor...played in the middle of Indiana to raise UK's recruiting brand in Indiana.  IU's administration floated multiple proposals including a 4-year rotation including two neutral games and a home and home.  Cal refused to play in Bloomington once in every four years, which is a disservice to all involved schools players and fans.  It isn't like UK can avoid playing road games in the SEC and I can't imagine splitting the four-year rotating gate wouldn't be a huge windfall for both schools.  When he turned down that compromise, I was done.  He's a weaselly pussy that had to shelter his fragile 5-star freshmen from big bad Bloomington when IU was willing to play a return game in Lexington.  I think that was a more than fair offer, but I'm over it.  For now, I just want IU to knock UK out of the NCAA tournament every time they meet them.  At some point, UK fans will be ready to renew the series whether or not Cal is still in charge.  I want IU to be good enough that Cal simply can't ignore them.

Screw Cal.  IU is going to return to national prominence with or without him.

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9 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Schedule is tight enough already. Conference play is Fri/Sunday of first weekend, Crossroad has been 2nd....3rd is usually a light game at home before or around finals...break for Christmas and right back to conference play. We essentially have Saturday available and we have to decide if national or local presence is more important. I'd like to schedule a national team....Arizona, UCLA, Kansas since the folks in the Bluegrass don't want to schedule.

Meh, I want the schedule "toughened" up.  

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2 hours ago, rico said:

Meh, I want the schedule "toughened" up.  

I'm all for tough too....but given how tough the Big 10 has been and will be....I don't want a schedule that feels like last year again where we played 20 straight games vs Quad 1 guys. Every once in awhile the kids need a lay down.

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11 hours ago, dgambill said:

One man killed it. I respect your opinion but just disagree politely. In the eyes of fans besides the few vocal minority on both sides who are too stubborn to meet in the middle the rest of the IU and UK fan bases want to play it. I’ve lived on both sides of the river for many years. A majority down there want to play it just as bad as we do....and they hate that we have gotten the best of them the last few times we’ve played. I respect your opinion...I’ve lived most of my life in southern Indiana including 10 years in Evansville. Then another 12 years in Kentucky....it may not be a big deal to Cal but it is to the fans on both sides of the river. The history and animosity doesn’t just go away because Cal canceled the game for a few years.

Growing up where I did I was never around UK fans so I never really cared about UK.  For me our biggest rival is Purdue and for me they will always be our biggest rivals.  For me when I look at our schedule, you already have 20 conference games in the top conference in the country.  I don't know why our fans want every non conference game to be against all top competition because we have to get some wins somewhere.  People say they want to see us play top competition but if we lose a couple early then they will go nuts and start ripping everyone.

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3 hours ago, rico said:

Meh, I want the schedule "toughened" up.  

Not with already playing 20 game conference schedule in the top conference in the country.  You can't play all top competition in the non conference because you need some guaranteed wins in there

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12 hours ago, dgambill said:

One man killed it. I respect your opinion but just disagree politely. In the eyes of fans besides the few vocal minority on both sides who are too stubborn to meet in the middle the rest of the IU and UK fan bases want to play it. I’ve lived on both sides of the river for many years. A majority down there want to play it just as bad as we do....and they hate that we have gotten the best of them the last few times we’ve played. I respect your opinion...I’ve lived most of my life in southern Indiana including 10 years in Evansville. Then another 12 years in Kentucky....it may not be a big deal to Cal but it is to the fans on both sides of the river. The history and animosity doesn’t just go away because Cal canceled the game for a few years.

 

4 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Growing up where I did I was never around UK fans so I never really cared about UK.  For me our biggest rival is Purdue and for me they will always be our biggest rivals.  For me when I look at our schedule, you already have 20 conference games in the top conference in the country.  I don't know why our fans want every non conference game to be against all top competition because we have to get some wins somewhere.  People say they want to see us play top competition but if we lose a couple early then they will go nuts and start ripping everyone.

I agree with both of you.  For me personally, I despise UK more than ANY TEAM.  I understand PU is probably our most traditional rivalry, however.

The way I look at it, IU/UK is a nationally recognized rivalry and IU/PU is mainly an intrastate and locally recognized rivalry.  Reinstating the IU/UK game annually would be tremendous for both institutions.  It would allow IU to regain the national recognition we have lost since the RMK days.  It would garner as much attention as Duke/UNC.  There simply is no downside to reinstating this game..  

I really don't care what Cal thinks and will never miss him once his tenure is done.  Cancelling the IU/UK game was wrong in my opinion.

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14 hours ago, BGleas said:

Doesn’t matter. IU is on another level from those schools. 

To be fair, I believe we've been doing home/homes with ND for decades before the Crossroads Classic - lots of great RMK/Digger stories from back in the day. But, I also get what you and other people are saying with respect to the Crossroads Classic not being all that great for IU in general. Although I agree with that, I still think it's a really cool event - it's more a celebration of Indiana basketball than anything on a significant national level. I also haven't been to one since I went to one of the early ones, so it may have lost a lot of luster on a local level.

As for UK, while I get why people are pissed, I don't think it's a good idea to just dismiss the idea of renewing the rivalry because of how it ended. It's an opportunity to get back on a national stage against one of the premier programs in the country, and the networks will eat it up. Way too many positives to renewing this to be dwelling on past slights. It was also played at neutral sites in the past, so while I would like to see some games on campus, that shouldn't be a must have element. 

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3 hours ago, IU Scott said:

Growing up where I did I was never around UK fans so I never really cared about UK.  For me our biggest rival is Purdue and for me they will always be our biggest rivals.  For me when I look at our schedule, you already have 20 conference games in the top conference in the country.  I don't know why our fans want every non conference game to be against all top competition because we have to get some wins somewhere.  People say they want to see us play top competition but if we lose a couple early then they will go nuts and start ripping everyone.

I don't want all top competition.  I really just want to switch out who we play in the Crossroads Classic for a team that does not put us in a lose/lose proposition.  If we beat ND or Butler, it rarely helps us in any way.  If we lose to ND or Butler, it definitely hurts us locally.  The radio guys in the biggest market in the state have loved to build up Butler and drag IU down.  That includes one of our vocal alumni.  We had a home and home against ND in the past.  I am fine with continuing that.  Butler does nothing for me.  Sorry.  I know a bunch of IU fans jumped on the cute little brother story when Stevens was there.  To me they play a boring style, their success has been to our detriment, and any loss to them is viewed as some changing of the guard by the Indy area talking heads (which can hurt recruiting) and any win against them is considered something we should do.

So dump that boring game and do something that will be more of a headliner CBS type of game instead of an ESPN afterthought type of game.

We are the draw for that game.  Butler can barely fill Hinkle during the year.  Purdue could not support their own "Blockbuster" event in Indy so they are riding our coattails on this one.  Finally, nobody cares about Notre Dame basketball in Indiana outside of South Bend.  And even then, playing in their arena was always a neutral site game for us.

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Give Cal credit for constantly trying to find ways to promote himself and his program. He is the quintessential used car salesman with streamers, balloons, and the blow up tube man flailing all about. It's no longer about winning at uk as much as it is about Cal being able to say he made all the players successful and wealthy. Remember, he has been saying it's a player's program now. He does have a lot of guys getting to the NBA, but not a lot of titles to show for it. The real question is, wouldn't most, if not all, of those players be in the NBA regardless? This bothers a lot of uk fans who are more interested in titles. 

The latest talk is they are changing their program to add experience every year now. The Herald Leader has an article saying the same thing but calling it a philosophical tweak. You can translate that to mean, it ain't working! If it was working they wouldn't need to change anything. I'll go a step further and say the real issue is it ain't working for uk as well as it is working for Duke. That burns many uk fans.

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