According to Sports Illustrated, Kentucky is part of two of college basketball top ten rivalries.
SI ranks Kentucky vs. Louisville No. 2 on the list behind North Carolina and Duke.
Kentucky vs. Indiana is No. 9 on the list. Kentucky vs. Florida also made the Honorable Mention list.
Here’s what SI says about both:
2. KENTUCKY VS. LOUISVILLE
Intra-state rivalries make up the majority of this list, and while the campuses of Louisville and Kentucky aren’t as close as Duke and UNC, their location in a college basketball-crazy state makes the annual Cardinals vs. Wildcats battle always highly anticipated. The all-time series has been a bit lopsided, with Kentucky leading 35–16, but UK’s blowout win in the schools’ most recent meeting last December was the lone double-digit win by either side since John Calipari arrived in Lexington (it was also the first time the Cardinals didn’t enter the game ranked in the top 25 since 2010).
Unlike Duke and UNC, which have never met in the NCAA tournament, Kentucky and Louisville have faced off six times during March Madness, the first of which came in 1951 and the most recent of which came in 2014. The Wildcats have won four of those games, none more important than the 2012 Final Four. That night, an Anthony Davis led-Kentucky team held off its rival in an eight-point win and would go on to beat Kansas in the title game—one year later, the Cardinals cut down the nets.
9. INDIANA VS. KENTUCKY
Like the rivalry right above it, this isn’t a series that’s currently ongoing, but unlike UConn-Tennessee, there’s unfortunately no renewal in sight. Indiana and Kentucky may both appear higher on this list with other schools, but there’s no denying this rivalry was great when we got it (it even produced a 1993 cover of Sports Illustrated). In fact, the final scheduled game of the series was an absolute instant classic, with Christian Watford sinking a buzzer-beating three to deliver the Hoosiers a 73–72 win in December 2011 that shook Assembly Hall to its core.
We say it was the last “scheduled” game, because sometimes the basketball gods smile down upon us. Later that year, the two would face off again in the Sweet 16, with the Wildcats getting revenge in Atlanta (yes, Kentucky beat both of its rivals on this list on the way to its 2012 title). Then in 2016, fate would pit the two together again in March, with Indiana prevailing this time in the Round of 32 to send the ’Cats packing. The two haven’t met since, but we’re all hoping this rivalry can continue again, in some form, sometime soon.
What about Kentucky vs. Duke?
