No more neutrality

Hey, want to hear an obnoxiously corny and unfunny rivalry joke? \nGreat, me too.\nSo there's a Hoosier fan sitting quietly in a chair. He's fishing out of a bucket. A gap-toothed and barefoot Wildcats fan asks the Hoosier fan what he's doing. \nHe responds: "I'm fishing for suckers." \nThe Wildcat fan asks: "How many have you caught?"\n"You're my eighth one today," replies the Hoosiers fan.\nPresumably, at some point, this lame joke was shared between an IU supporter and a Kentucky one in either Indianapolis or Louisville -- the neutral sites this match-up has rotated between each year since 1991. \nThe stadiums were split 50-50. There was a sea of red on one side, a sea of blue on the other. \nVisceral shouts and screams rang from the rafters to each opposing side.\nThis year, the Hoosiers will find themselves in a sea of blue. On Saturday, IU plays the Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., at Rupp Arena.\nIs it for the better or worse? \nWell, I think part of the luster of this series has always been the polarizing fan bases cooped up in such a small area of the country. Although the state lines don't quite determine your loyalties (Hoosier fans come from Kentucky, too, you know), it's a special thing having that sort of crowd atmosphere due to each game's close proximity to each fan base.\nThat's gone this year.\nIt's still a tough pre-conference season game for each team, but it takes a bit out of it for the fans. \nIU coach Kelvin Sampson isn't worried about too much of that, though. \nHe's more concerned with using this tough non-conference game as a stepping stone for his team's continued improvement. He also wants to see how senior guards Earl Calloway and Rod Wilmont and junior guard A.J. Ratliff look on the road after not seeing much time in the second half against Duke University earlier in the season.\n"The thing about this game is, those three guys that didn't play the second half, they got to prove they can play on the road," said Sampson.\nBoth Kentucky and IU have traveled similar roads and sport similar squads this season. Kentucky is a modest 5-3 with losses against three ranked squads -- the University of North Carolina, the University of Memphis and UCLA. IU boasts a 5-2 record with loses to two ranked teams, Butler and Duke.\nThe Hoosiers have their big man in junior forward D.J. White, who averages averages 7.7 rebounds a game. Center Randolph Morris, Kentucky's low-post presence, averages 7.8.\nThe Wildcats sport the high-scoring guard duo of Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley, while IU has its own guard tandem of buckets in Wilmont and Ratliff.\nEach offense hinges on one standout low-post presence backed by solid guard play.\n"The Kentucky game is a rival game, it's a huge game," Wilmont said. "We played probably one of our best games last year against them. They're gonna come out and they're gonna remember that game from last year and what we did."\nFor those of you who don't remember, IU smacked Kentucky 79-53.\nAnd Hoosier fans -- whether in attendance or not -- would like Rod and crew to lay that smack down once again.