... It's just business. Sit back and think about how much not only college basketball, but collegiate athletics as a whole, has changed in the new millennium. Specifically, focus in on the Indiana Hoosier basketball team. You will not find a college program that has gone through more in the past 12 years than the Hoosiers have had to endure.
What triggered it all? The firing of legendary coach Bob Knight in 2000. Since then I would argue that the Hoosiers have been on the wildest roller coaster ride in the history of college athletics. It all started in what surely Hoosier Nation thought was the lowest of lows after the abrupt departure of Knight. What everyone failed to realize at that point was the fact that the old school, tradition laden ways left with him.
Of course, when you're a blue-blood program, winning creates a naivete that blinds even the smartest fans from what is actually taking place, cough cough Mike Davis cough. He takes the Hoosiers to a national title game and all seems to be forgiven. At the time, no one seemed to care that he did it with Bob Knight's players. Hindsight is of course 20/20 because I'm sure plenty of people will now say they didn't agree with the contract extension that followed the championship run because of that fact alone.
Or maybe it was because of this:
It happened against Kentucky no-less (I'll speak on Kentucky a little bit later). Enter Kelvin Sampson. This was a pretty controversial hire as he had a previous issues with the NCAA. He starts winning, naivete strikes again. I can even admit I was skeptical at first, but as soon as DJ White and company dawned the candy stripes and started playing, I thought he was the best thing since Knight.
We all know what happened after that, there is no need to go through the turmoil that clouded over Bloomington the following 5 years.
Tom Crean finally has the program on the rise and is on the verge of obtaining the program's first preseason number one ranking in over 20 years. From the outside looking in it appears to have been done the right way (I refuse to ever let winning get in the way of my perception of this team again).
And just when everything seemed to be back at the status quo, Kentucky AND Indiana pulled the proverbially rug out from under the college basketball universe.
Kentucky (aka Coach Cal) doesn't want to subject his young players to hostile environments ... fine, I get that. Indiana wants to make the game more accessible and affordable to it's student body ... sure, makes sense. But for these two storied programs to be unable to arrive at some sort of compromise is absolutely unacceptable.
This game has been played every year since 1969. At both neutral sites and home-and-homes. Not only did these programs just put themselves before tradition; AND implicitly say they were individually bigger than the rivalry; AND made this about egos rather than the game ... they took away what was sure to be the marquee non-conference match up of the entire season next year. When did Kentucky become all about money (dumb question, but I'm on a roll just go with it)? And when did Indiana become so stubborn (after all they turned down back to back games in Banker's Life and Lucas Oil in favor of a home-and-home)?
Next year's match-up could have been the coming out party for the new era between old rivals. Last year's result was completely unexpected. But next year could have been special. Six times these teams have met when both were ranked in the Top 5. The last time that happened? An overtime game 25 years ago in 1987.
Who knows when the next time we'll see the Indiana Hoosiers play the Kentucky Wildcats? But if it makes you feel any better, it's nothing personal Indiana / Kentucky fans, it's just business.
