Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Basketball is a Big Deal in Kentucky

By Jared Dyer

The University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky are arch rivals in basketball and both colleges are both in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Louisville and Lexington are the first and second largest cities in the state of Kentucky. These two cities are also home to the first and second largest colleges in the state. The UK Wildcats have called Lexington, KY home for a very long time. The school was founded way back in 1865.

The University of Kentucky has had a lot of high profile coaches. Adolph Rupp was a long time coach at Kentucky and is one of the most successful college basketball coaches to ever live. Rupp is a hall of fame coach who won four national titles at Kentucky. Several decades later Rick Pitino coach at Kentucky before eventually moving to his current position at the University of Louisville.

Before Rick Pitino went to Louisville the Kentucky Wildcats were by far the most dominant college
basketball program in the state. Since Coach Pitino joined the Louisville Cardinals there have been seasons where the University of Louisville actually had a better basketball team than the one that the University of Kentucky was able to field.

From 1989 until 1997 Coach Pitino was with the University of Kentucky. Before joining the Louisville Cardinals Coach Pitino took a job coaching the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001. Pitino didn't do very well coaching in the NBA so he went back to the college game.

Despite the fact the Kentucky is widely considered to be a southern state it still gets mighty cold in Lexington and Louisville. The winters in Kentucky can be deceptively harsh. Fans from both schools know that when they go to a UK or U of L game in the middle of the winter they had better dress accordingly. Fans at both schools have plenty of gear with their team logos. It's commonplace to see hats, coats, sweatshirts, and even blankets with either Wildcats or Cardinals logos.

The Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats compete in different athletic conferences. Louisville is in the Big East Conference. The University of Kentucky is in the Southeastern Conference. Even though these two rival basketball programs aren't in the same conference they typically play each other around New Year's Eve.

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