Anything you can do, I can do better.
In 1980, the Louisville Cardinals won the NCAA Championship. The next year, their northern neighbors in Bloomington won it all. Again, UL held short-lived bragging rights capturing the 1986 title, before IU won it all the next year.
You want a rivalry? This was a rivalry:
The last time IU faced the Cardinals, they were stomped 95-76, in Freedom Hall on Feb. 1, 2003 under former IU coach Mike Davis.
But, this Rick Pitino interview, courtesy of Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal, sparks the question of whether this rivalry can be renewed.
"When you play Butler, and IU and Kentucky, teams that are just a bus ride away, it's great for the fans, it's great for the guys," Pitino said.
However, Pitino cautioned that IU coach Tom Crean already has the annual Kentucky game on his plate, in addition to playing in the competitive Big Ten.
"t's just a matter of how many tough non-conference games do you want?" Pitino said. "What you try and do when you play in a major league, you try and play as many neutral games as possible when your league is that tough. Only dumb people like myself do what we do. [Izzo's] the best at it."
When Bozich did this interview with Crean in February, the four-year coach entertained the possibility.
"There's no question we want to do it at some point in time," said Crean of the rivalry game. "I don't know if it's going to happen quickly, our schedule has to balance out right now."
Although Crean wants to put the rivalry on hold, Pitino said the time for Crean and IU is now.
"I think this is his [Crean's] turnaround year," Pitino said. "...He's building the foundation of his home extremely strong, it's going to be built to last and that's how you have to do it"
