The matchup between Louisville and Kentucky on Saturday isn’t just about an opportunity at the national title. It’s also about not returning home the loser.
The teams involved in every rivalry think theirs is the most intense. An Alabama football fan poisoned beloved trees on Auburn’s campus. Maryland supporters used to get Navy’s goat — literally — before games. Fans of the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins live for pranks. It’s the fun part of sports.
But the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry in basketball is serious business. Kentuckians love horse racing and basketball. They can decide equine differences at the parimutuel windows, but the basketball debate never ends.
Two dialysis patients in a suburban Lexington, Ky., clinic fought Monday over the Final Four matchup. Think about that — these two men might be nearing their final days, and they started throwing fists over a game.
Rick Pitino went 219-50 as the coach of Kentucky from 1989 to 1997 and led the Wildcats to three Final Fours and one national title. His retired jersey still hangs in Rupp Arena. But becoming Louisville’s coach in 2001 turned Pitino into Judas among Kentucky fans.
Pitino, about 70 miles away in Louisville, knows he’s not safe from the ire of UK supporters.
“A lot of mixed marriages end up bad. A Louisville woman with a Kentucky man always end up bad,” Pitino told reporters. “There’s a half million Kentucky alumni in this town. We have to live amongst our competitors here.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari is 100-14 in three seasons with the Wildcats with an Elite Eight and two Final Four appearances. The Wildcats are favored to win the title, which Calipari said has fans rabid.
“They worry. They can’t sleep at night,” he said. “I sleep at night, but they can’t sleep.”
Pitino and Calipari used to be friends after they met at a basketball clinic in 1973. Pitino helped Calipari get his first head coaching job at Massachusetts, with Pitino supposedly donating $5,000 of the salary.
But the two are too much alike to stay friends in a competitive business. Pitino’s Wildcats beat Calipari’s Minutemen in the 1996 semifinals en route to the national title. It supposedly soured the relationship.
But it just mirrors the schools’ rivalry, which was so bitter that there was a 62-season gap in the annual series until 1983 (though there were some meetings in the NCAA tournament). Kentucky won 69-62 on Dec. 31 and has a 29-14 edge over Louisville. They have split four games in the NCAA tournament, though this is the first meeting in the Final Four. Louisville beat Kentucky in the 1983 “Dream Game” for the Mideast Region championship.
This game is too big to worry about a local rivalry, both sides say. The prize is too grand. Beating their in-state rival is sweet, but taking the title will mean the semifinal victory will be forgotten. At least for the winner.
“When you’re playing at this stage of the season, it doesn’t matter if it’s a school 12 miles from you or 1,000 miles,” Calipari said. “It really doesn’t matter.”
At least both sides still agree on Kentucky bourbon’s supremacy. Just not on which side will use it to toast the postgame winner.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
