After Dick Vitale called out Mark Pope and Kentucky for what he called a "cupcake" non-conference schedule earlier this offseason, the Wildcats almost had to respond to the sudden national heat. The team's last remaining slot on the slate was destined for intrigue, and now, Pope may be looking to revive a deserted rivalry to drum up just that.
According to Matt Jones, Kentucky is in talks to play the West Virginia Mountaineers on Black Friday this fall on a neutral floor in Nashville. The game, per Jones, was originally trending to be set against Illinois, but that idea ultimately fell through.
While a deal still hasn't been finalized - Matt Norlander added that the game looks like a "50/50" possibility at this point - this would be a thrilling revisitation of one of Kentucky's most underrated historic rivalries.
The blue and white have only battled the blue and yellow a total of 21 times throughout their respective histories, and the tallies aren't exactly close. Having won 16 of those contests, Cats fans may be slow to dub this occasional matchup an actual rivalry.
To that point, I'd like to raise Kentucky's 40-18 all-time record against Louisville on the hardwood. If that runaway record is a rivalry (in-state conflict aside), I'd like to think that this Appalachian duel is too.
Kentucky's Underrated Rivalry With West Virginia
The last time a Wildcats team took on the Mountaineers was in 2018 when, in the SEC vs. Big 12 challenge, a No. 18 Kentucky squad mounted a comeback in the second half to topple No. 15 West Virginia, 83-76.
Kevin Knox led the way for the Cats with a scorching 34 points. It's been a long time.
The two meetings prior to that were a pair of NCAA Tournament wins for Kentucky, in 2015 and 2011, both of which came after a devastating postseason defeat in 2010. In the latter, a 73-66 Mountaineers victory spelled the end of John Wall's run with the Wildcats and there, in my opinion, this rivalry was truly born.
A Power 4 Face-Off
Fast forward to the 2026-27 season and, even though the Mountaineers aren't expected to make any sort of national splash early on, this non-conference meetup would still constitute as a Power 4 face-off.
Given the two teams' history with one another on top of that (special shoutout to Kenny Brooks and the women's team for besting West Virginia in this past postseason), topping off Kentucky's pre-SEC schedule with this one would make perfect sense.
Maybe this date in Nashville would reinvigorate the sleeping vitriol between these two programs and give us a competitive new series going forward, much like the overhauled Indiana series already has. As far as I'm concerned, the more aggressive, hateful rivals on the docket (to any degree), the better.
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