Cal and Cuban talk IU-UK restarting series

[dgambill]

15 hours ago, FKIM01 said:

I've addressed this before...so I guess I'll address it once more...

No one ever said UK playing a game in Indianapolis is the only reason Indiana kids would choose UK.  At the same time, it would surely be hard to argue that UK playing annually in Indiana wouldn't raise their profile at all with Indiana high school players.  On the flip side, I doubt anyone at IU thinks there's much advantage to IU playing in Kentucky since there simply aren't many IU-level targets in Kentucky high school basketball.  Again, let's think critically...why would Cal "offer" to play all games in Indianapolis?

I'm against anything that helps Cal recruit Indiana without something that helps IU.  Playing in Indianapolis most assuredly helps UK more than it helps IU since IU is already in Indiana and already plays a game in Indianapolis.  A UK game in Bloomington is a monster draw for IU recruits and if Cal wants a game that helps him recruit, IU should get a game that similarly raises IU's stature.  The way I see it, UK gets a bigger recruiting boost from the Indy game and IU gets a bigger boost from a Bloomington game.  Obviously, UK gets a boost playing IU in Rupp and IU gets a profile boost playing in Louisville, albeit, I believe much less valuable than UK's Indianapolis game.  I think if both programs are honest about which venue gives them the biggest recruiting boost, both programs would point to a venue in Indiana.

I understand that we're talking incrementals and not absolutes here.  Both programs have a fairly high profile nationally, with UK admittedly having a bigger profile at the moment so no one is saying that the series resuming in a given location is fully responsible for the recruiting success or failure of either program.  No one has said that UK can't recruit in Indiana without a game in Indianapolis.  Conversely, no one being serious should attempt to suggest that UK playing an annual game in Indianapolis has no benefit for UK in recruiting Indiana kids.  Conversely, I can't think of another opponent coming to Bloomington for a game being a bigger attraction for potential IU recruits than UK.

It's time to stop pretending that Cal was being a swell guy by offering to play all of the games in Indianapolis.  Cal doesn't do anything that doesn't help Cal.  That much should be obvious by now.

We just disagree. Every single kid in the state of Indiana that plays basketball is 100% aware of the position UK has in the college basketball landscape. It’s Duke/UK and then a distant 3rd to Kansas and the rest. These kids aren’t going to be swayed a minuscule to go to UK because they would have an semi-annual game in Indy. Let’s be real the kids that go to UK might not ever step foot in Indy. These are OAD type players...whose aspirations are much larger than this game. The point of the game is to attract national kids who will see us playing UK on an annual basis (playing a premier game of the year style game that the media will hype and will be in front of 40-50k fans possibly if at LOS). Our profile has never been higher than UK...and probably never will unless we run off another 3-4 national championships. Honestly we don’t even run in similar recruiting circles...we really don’t recruit the same type of players. 
 

Anyways it isn’t about doing us a favor. Both schools should do what is best for them. The reason they stopped was because of how their fan base complained about how they were treated and how their players were run over by idiot fans rushing the court (something that should never happen anywhere). Cal knows BBN travels...and he wants games that allow as many of his fans to travel as possible and games that prepare his team for the tournament (Crowd atmosphere and building environment and opponent) playing a true road game doesn’t do that. The thing is..maybe that is what we should be doing too! Why do we constantly struggle in BTT?? Maybe not enough neutral court and tournament style venues in our season? I know we just differ on this but kids are swayed by your schedule and the level of competition and chances to display their skills against the best competition...to me we have more to gain then they do...and we always will...it won’t matter when Cal is gone they will go out and pay whatever it takes to bring in the next hottest name out there and continue..their admin doesn’t play the games ours do. I appreciate your opinion and maybe someone else can help explain the recruiting thing to me...but I’ve never seen that line of thinking. Honestly at this point I don’t think UK even has room for us on their schedule...it would be a step down from what they have been scheduling to replace UCLA and Kansas and UNC like they have been scheduling home and home..but maybe we can change that by winning and putting more media pressure on them.