I’ll cut Indiana a break.
Before you already bash my head in for this comment, I’ll give you a few reasons later on, but you’ve got to put yourselves in their shoes for a moment. I know their fans are obnoxious but underneath all of that nastiness you’ve got to think to yourself…What if Kentucky was in those Hoosier red shoes? What is it was Kentucky that was a struggling team for the last few years and had a “fall from glory.”
I’m not saying what the Indiana fans are doing is right in many means because of the way they are acting on Twitter is childish and quite frankly downright ugly, but you can’t blame this fan base for reacting the way it is, because of what this match up means for Indiana basketball. They come in at 8-0 with a very cup cake schedule and a win over Butler, I’m not sure if Indiana realizes that Butler is down this year and they have one of the worst teams in the last three years at the 4-4 mark with a loss to Pepperdine or someone last time I checked.
Indiana is a program that is actually rich in tradition. The state is comparable to Kentucky when you talk about it in terms of high school basketball and how much basketball means to the state, but they also have five national championships to their credit. What better way for Indiana to put themselves back on the college basketball map than with a win over the number one team in the nation, Kentucky and move on to a 9-0 record. It would be everything the Hoosier fans have wanted and more in Tom Crean.
Let’s face it, it may be delusional and it may be cocky of them to say it wouldn’t be an upset if Indiana beat Kentucky this Saturday, because it would be and I guarantee if they beat Kentucky on Saturday then they are storming the floor and partying all night in Bloomington. It would leave a sour taste in the mouths of Big Blue Nation as well…But again, you can’t blame Indiana fans for getting extremely antsy and excited about this game.
I just can’t blame Indiana fans, being a rather obnoxious UK fans myself at times…I can’t blame them for the over excitement, I can’t blame them for the trash talk and I can’t blame them for being delusional, because in their shoes, I would be reacting the same way. No matter how delusional it may be, I would want to think my team would destroy the number one team in the nation when they came into MY house on Saturday just to prove a point.
But sadly…It’s not going to happen.
For Indiana to beat Kentucky it would take a near miracle…Scratch that, it would take a miracle. Don’t get me wrong, I think it will be a close game in Bloomington because of the crowd. That crowd is going to be jacked and is going to be a monster that these Kentucky freshman has never seen before, and it’s just going to get them ready for what they are going to face at EVERY ROAD GAME IN THE SEC. It doesn’t matter if they go to Auburn or Ole Miss, fans will pack the arena when the best team around comes to play them, it doesn’t matter if it’s a football school or a basketball school, and Indiana is going to be probably one of the loudest and raunchiest crowds that the University of Kentucky will play in front of all year.
For Indiana to win the game they’ll have to stick to a game plan that is virtually impossible for them to do. They can pack it up in the paint and not allow Kentucky to get anywhere near the basket and rely on Kentucky’s poor outside shooting to try and stay in the game, and honestly that’s an easy and honest game plan that most coaches will try to do against Kentucky, but sadly, Indiana doesn’t have the horses to run with Kentucky, nor do they have the athletes to stay in front of Kentucky. Cody Zeller is good, but he isn’t enough to win this game.
While the game will probably be a slow placed, sloppy game with Kentucky pulling away in the second half, I’m going to end with this, after the game just remember the Indiana fans, because they aren’t being like this because they are trying to be obnoxious.
Sadly they are just trying to be relevant.