Fire Tubby?

For me, UK vs. Indiana has always been “the” game. I (unlike the real Gimel) grew up on the shores of the Ohio River, across from the Hoosier State. On both sides of the river UK fans and IU fans would live peacefully until the end of November, as fever for “the game” rose on both sides. Bets are made, smack is spoken, analysis is vomited throughout the region.

The aftermath of the game is felt for almost the whole year. When the Hoosiers win, you see a whole heck more IU stuff running around Kentucky cities, and vice versa. After a streak of wins are broken, the amount of school colors is often blinding. Back in ‘91, when the Unforgettables upset Knight’s squad that featured Alan Henderson, I never felt much prouder running around Tell City in my UK Starter jacket.

Even in such a volatile area, somehow fans of the opposite teams can find love together. In our county, one such couple erected a flagpole in their back yard (that faced US-60). Flying on the pole from bottom to top were — if I remember correctly — the US flag, the flag bearing the insignia of the loser of that year’s IU vs. UK game, and then a flag of the winning school. I always thought that was cool, especially when Pitino’s and Tubby’s streak of beating IU from 1994 to ‘98 kept that Big Blue flag on top.

Last year UK tried to 3-point the Hoosiers to death, and failed miserably. This year’s Indiana team is young but extremely athletic. They gave Duke everything the Dukies didn’t want; the only thing that saved Duke’s non-conference win streak was the Hoosier’s poor shot selection throughout the game. Needless to say, I’m a little concerned for our Wildcats; athletic pressure D is Kentucky’s Achilles Heel, and a flowing motion O can find some open looks against our D.

With enough pressure and some senior/junior leadership (and another monster game from Morris), UK will have a good chance to capitalize on that poor shot selection and win. I’m sure everybody south of the Ohio is hoping the same. Go Cats!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 9th, 2006 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Cat Commentary, Pregame. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.