Indiana and Kentucky in talks to renew rivalry

The last time Indiana and Kentucky played was back in 2011 and it was nothing short of spectacular as Christian Watford drilled a game winning jumper at the buzzer to defeat the Wildcats.

This rivalry dates all the way back to the 1920s and now both schools are looking to renew the energy and excitement.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, the Wildcats and Hoosiers have had recent conversations about rebooting the rivalry starting this upcoming season.

Nothing is imminent at this point though as Kentucky does not want to play at Bloomington and wants to feature the match-up yearly at Lucas Oil Stadium, which will be greatly beneficial for recruiting purposes.

Indiana would like to play the match-ups at Lucas Oil Stadium but will also look to feature some games at on-campus sites to get the college atmosphere an opportunity to engaged in the rivalry.

Tom Crean and the Hoosiers are coming off a season in which they barely made the NCAA Tournament (having a slump down the stretch) before losing in the second round to Wichita State. Indiana has James Blackmon Jr, Yogi Ferrell and Troy Williams returning while they also bring in 5-star recruit Thomas Bryant (who coincidentally had Kentucky on his final list of schools).

Indiana should be a top 25 team this year but Crean’s job could also be on the line if Indiana doesn’t make waves this season. They are considered one of the stronger teams in all of the Big Ten (a conference that will be highly competitive this upcoming season) but it’s up to their spread offense to make plays late in the season.

Kentucky has missed out on a number of high profile recruits this spring and have lost seven players to the NBA but they still have a Hall of Fame coach and some great talent.

Freshman Skal Labissiere, Isaiah Briscoe and Charles Matthews will look to play alongside “vets” Marcus Lee, Poythress and Tyler Ulis to once again form another stout Wildcats unit. Calipari’s team will once again be one of the favorite to win the SEC and are still involved in Jaylen Brown, one of the top recruits in the 2015 class.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to AP Photo/David J. Phillip

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