Kentucky Basketball: Discussing the End of the IU/UK Series with CrimsonCast

Every year for the last four years, Scott of the excellent IU blog CrimsonCast and I have gotten together to do a podcast about the Kentucky Wildcats vs. Indiana Hoosiers basketball game. This week, we did what may be our last podcast for a while lamenting the series going on hiatus. It's a pretty wide-ranging discussion of the topic, and I hope you enjoy it.

I think the consensus between us was regret. Obviously, as homers, we pretty much supported the position of our respective schools, and that should come as a surprise to nobody. For my part, I do wish the series would continue. I have stated my preference for neutral arenas, but I would certainly have embraced some kind of compromise if it had been offered by either side. For whatever reason, though, I think it was pretty clear that both IU and UK were okay with ending the long-running series for 2012-13 for a number of good reasons.

We have rehashed this quite a bit here, and other news outlets and blogs have lamented the ending of the series as a loss for college basketball. Frankly, and without being disrespectful to those without a rooting interest, I could care less about the supposed hit to the college game. I find that argument without merit.

Whatever the case, we can always hope for a quick renewal of the series, and after further discussion, that could be more likely than I had thought -- much of the lack of fight for this year's game had to do with scheduling issues both teams faced, which made it much easier to let it go than perhaps it otherwise would. Also, the two coaches are not steeped in the tradition of the series, and I don't think either one of them considers it particularly important in the larger scheme of things. For those of us who will miss the game next year, I suppose that's just a price you pay for coaching turnover. It is what it is.