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College Football

Hickey: Indiana loses to Kentucky but gains new reasons to hate old enemy

Alex Hickey

By Alex Hickey

Published:

Disappointment is natural when a season ends, no matter how it ends.

And given the frustrating nature of Indiana’s 4-2 loss to Kentucky in the Lexington Regional final, disappointment is an understandable response.

It stings a little bit more when you’re in the driver’s seat and a team takes a regional from out of the loser’s bracket. And when you squander multiple chances, as the Hoosiers did Monday night.

In 3 different innings, Indiana had a runner reach 3rd base with 1 out or less. Each was left stranded there. In a 2-run loss, the math isn’t that hard to figure out. Hitters simply making contact instead of striking out could have altered the outcome.

But the Hoosiers also gained quite a bit in their run to a regional final.

This was the youngest team in the Big Ten this season. Indiana arrived very much ahead of schedule in even reaching the NCAA Tournament, and this experience will serve the Hoosiers well next year.

Making it to Monday was another feat in itself.

Arms are paramount in postseason college baseball. It’s why avoiding the loser’s bracket is usually so important. And if you do end up in that bracket, it helps to blow out a team the way Kentucky did West Virginia on Sunday to set up a rematch with IU. The Cats didn’t have to tax their bullpen.

Indiana, however, paid the bullpen tax from the outset. When ace Luke Sinnard was pulled in the 3rd inning of the opener due to concerns about his elbow, Indiana’s odds of getting through the regional fell off a cliff.

Yet unlikely heroes such as Ty Bothwell and Brayden Risedorph stepped up on more than one occasion to keep Indiana alive.

Indiana’s grit at the Lexington Regional gave Hoosier fans plenty to be proud of.

And it produced something arguably even more important: a reason to hate Kentucky again.

Consider the rivalry (temporarily) rekindled

Maybe you’d forgotten. Or if you’re a current IU student, maybe you never knew in the first place. But there is a level of disdain the University of Kentucky creates which Purdue can only dream of replicating.

Purdue fans have never experienced enough postseason wins to be arrogant. Kentucky doesn’t have that problem.

But when the basketball programs haven’t played a regular-season game in over a decade, there’s a whole generation of fans who lose out on that dynamic.

This weekend produced some vivid reminders on and off the field.

Kentucky’s institutional arrogance is part of the reason the regional was still held in Lexington despite not actually having hotels available for visiting teams or fans.

“Eh, we’ve got dorm rooms for the teams, that’ll be good enough for them,” was UK’s official attitude.

The controversy that arose over that issue set the tone for a few more.

Indiana coaches had terse words with Kentucky coach Nick Mingione after Sunday and Monday night’s games.

There was also a postgame handshake controversy, as the Hoosiers apparently elected to stay in the dugout rather than shake Kentucky’s hands. (Though depending on who you ask, UK didn’t actually show up to shake hands in timely fashion.)

These tasty beefs are proof that it doesn’t take much to get this rivalry heated.

Unfortunately, Kentucky’s arrogance is why the rivalry has lost steam in the first place.

John Calipari’s refusal to return to Assembly Hall after Christian Watford sank the Wildcats in 2011 sends the clear message of “we don’t think you’re worthy of hosting us.”

So, it’s neutral site or nothing for Cal, who would rather give up a home game against Indiana every other year than set foot in Bloomington. It’s petty and pathetic.

Apparently, that attitude also prevails with Mingione.

Though the rivalry begs for a regular season reprise next year, IU coach Jeff Mercer made it clear that’s not happening.

Kentucky, again, refuses to visit Indiana.

Though most fans don’t get fired up about seeing a team that produces offense by leaning over home plate to rack up incredibly cheap hit-by-pitches — a total of 22 on the weekend — Bart Kaufman Field would probably be packed if that team has “Kentucky” on the front of its jersey.

Alas, it won’t be happening. What should be one of the great rivalries in college sports will now lie dormant in 3 of them — men’s basketball, baseball and football.

All because Kentucky is too self-important for home-and-homes. And so we wait for another NCAA postseason intervention to create the next renewal.

Who knows when that will be. But whenever it happens, at least a new generation of Hoosiers knows to have the proper amount of vitriol for the Wildcats.

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.