My name is Seedy K and I’m a hoopaholic.
A lifelong Louisville Cardinals diehard hoopaholic.
With an opinion. Or ten.
All of which kicked in this morning, which is why I needed to share here at Hoopaholic’s Anonymous.
This morning at theathletic.com, b-ball scribe Scott Dochterman ranked the Top 50 rivalries in college basketball.
U of L vs. UK was the runner up to Duke/ North Carolina.*
*I do not have an issue with that order of things. I’m a hoops junkie, and loathe the Tobacco Road acolytes as I might, and how ESPN hypes it to the hilt, that rivalry does most always deliver scintillating hoops.
Which Cards vs. Cats does not always do.
But I did have a knee jerk relapse into my hoopaholism when the scribe listed his take on the “Biggest Game” in the series.
I trust I’m not alone.
Here’s what Dochterman wrote:
Biggest game: It doesn’t get bigger than the Final Four. In 2012, the top-seeded Wildcats withstood a furious second-half rally ignited by Louisville’s Peyton Siva, with All-American forward Anthony Davis’ 18 points and 14 rebounds elevating Kentucky to a 69-61 win in New Orleans. Two days later, Kentucky beat Kansas to win the NCAA title.
I was aghast.
The writer’s not some kid who can’t remember anything before UConn won two in a row before last season’s Gator’s title. He knows his hoops.
But anybody with a scintilla of sense about hoops history and Louisville vs. Kentucky knows there’s only one biggest game of the 58 the schools have played.
I did a somersaulting 3 1/2 twists pike into the Commentariat.
This opinionation demanded immediate correction.
The 2012 U of L vs. UK game doesn’t come close to being the biggest or most important in the rivalry. Not close, I repeat. The ’83 Regional final in Knoxville — “The Dream Game” — leaves every other battle in its dust. I was there. It changed the whole dynamic of basketball in the Commonwealth. I live in Louisville in the middle of it. I’m an old fart. I am a hoopaholic. Started going to games in 1952. Listened to U of L’s startling upset of UK in ’59 NCAA on the radio with my parents.
Of course I felt it necessary to include some resumé info, for R E S P E C T purposes. Plus I’m a hoopaholic who feels the need to provide self aggrandizing personal info at every turn.
So yeah, I feel better now.
Should you be so inclined, here’s the entire game:
Or, if you have some real life things to do, like work or family to deal with, here’s that magical OT:
— c d kaplan
’80 in Indy was unbelievable, but that day in Knoxville is my favorite as a Cardinal fan.
When I read that, I thought the same thing. The ‘83 game tops them all.
Agreed, nothing better than that ’83 game. And I didn’t even live here at the time. I’m not even sure the 2012 final 4 game would be number 2 on the list. Sure it was the final 4, but Kentucky was the favorite to win it all and I don’t think we even expected to reach the final 4.
Correct. U of L surprisingly overachieved and slid into FF. UK was a juggernaut.
The problem here, Seedy, is old farts like you are not the target audience he was writing to. He was writing to people who were born and alive when the “biggest” game was played. That ancient history in Knoxville may be the biggest game to us CARDS fans who are old enough to remember it. It may well be the game that most influenced post game basketball in the Commonwealth by resulting in the annual series, but that’s not the point.
What is it you fall back on every time you screw up? Literary license is it?
How can there be any DOUBT about “The Dream Game” as the APEX of MEANINGFUL ‼️‼️
We were there – We were also there in San Diego in ‘75 seconds away from anticipating what would been #1 / CARDS – CATS for the Natty !
I will never forget either experience but watching the cheerleading squads of both schools and MY OLD KY HOME & our incredible OT BLITZ was as good as it gets !!
We USED to be a Basketball 🏀 POWEHOUSE
GO CARDS 2027 !
My pick would be the March 13, 1959 tilt in the NCAA regional semi final game played when I was 5 months old. A close second is the February 12, 1916 game when we won in Lexington 26 – 22. Epic!
Humorous – but taking an irrelevant cheap shot as it’s like saying history and tradition for UCLA doesn’t include John Wooden – I don’t THINK you can SELECTIVELY pick cut off dates for history and tradition – SEEDY DA MAN on this one Scorpio –
Also one wistful thought – imagine if Denny had beaten his Mentor Wooden in 1975 and THEN the CATS
Selectively pick cutoff dates for history and tradition? Did I miss one before the 1916 classic? 🤔
Joke as you do, but I listened to that ’59 game with my folks, and it was epic.
Obviously I don’t remember it, but I am aware of the significance of it, so that’s why I chose it for the joke.
Bill Olsen got me from my seat and brought me down to the baseline just before the game ended, and he and i “stormed the court ” and I hugged Rod at mid-court in celebration…. yes, the most significant of the games in the series
Exactly. I was there in great seats in that jammed arena. Unfortunately, I missed the overtime when a friend in our group passed out at the end of regulation. We managed to get her to the concourse. I began a panic rush looking for first aid emergency help. Others got her laid out on a closed concessions bar while I ran around the building looking for help, all the while glancing the scoreboard for each score. She recovered quickly, as did I.
For those of us not invoking literary license, ala Seedy style, for our national audience, the answer to what the biggest game in the history of the series has been, is quite obvious. I think even most uk fans would agree, even though they lost. The one and only Dream Game.
We all have our stories. Mine is that I was a student at uk. There was already plenty of back and forth banter between myself, a U of L 1st uk 2nd fan, and my buddies, many which were Lexington natives, who were uk 1st U of L SUCKS!
When whoever it was tipped in the shot to beat Arkansas, I was drunk. I immediately began making bets on the game, and giving up 10 points. I woke the next morning and remembered what I had done. Gulp. Having full confidence that we would win, if not by 10, I set about making enough straight up even bets on the game to cover my losses should U of L not cover the 10 I had drunkenly and foolishly given up. Easy to do in Lexington. Why didn’t I think of this when I was drunk? 🤔
Game day was a big keg party at my house. Nearly 50/50 crowd of uk fans, and U of L fans like myself. uk students from Louisville who were CARDS 1st fans. I was thrilled that the cheering groups were virtually evenly split, in Lexington. Virtually all of us uk students. Well…overtime. the CARDS covered the 10. Subsequently I went back to get a beer. Where’s the key? I’m informed that my housemate, Andrew, who is a Lexington native and huge uk fan, has stolen the keg and spirited it away to an unknown location. I laugh a laugh of deep satisfaction.
For the next several days it seemed like every time I ran into a uk fan I knew, they were handing me money.
Good times
Really good times. Your wagering story reminds me of Judge Darryl Owens. Huge U of L fan. Huge. Made as many bets on Cards over Cats in Knoxville. as he could around Hall of Justice. Giving ten points. Cards covered.
They did indeed, although it didn’t seem like they were going to.
My question scorpio, is were you pulling for Master to miss the last shot in regulation? Or make it so you could cover all bets in the OT?
Well, being as I didn’t know the CARDS would explode to a win of 12 points in OT I was hoping he would miss at the time. I still would have broken even with a 2 point win, because of the straight up bets I had made to cover the bets I gave up 10 on. I would have been fine with a 2 point win and breaking even. I do recall that almost everyone at our party was cheering when it went in because the game was so great, and we were going to get at least 5 more minutes of basketball. I did still think U of L would win. uk was gassed. When the CARDS exploded in OT there wasn’t a lot of cheering by those of us pulling for U of L. Everyone was in shock at what we were seeing. Of course in the end I’m glad Master made the shot. It ended up making me a lot of money. A lot for a college student anyway.
The reply I expected scorpio – one usually doesn’t cover double digits in OT, but there was one happy college kid that day!
Blame Scooter for that tip-info
That overtime gives me chill’s every time I watch it. It’s been a few years. F’in glorious. Thanks.
That 1959 game my mom and I listened to it in the kitchen. The other Arthur was out of town on business and called and mom put the phone next to the radio. Hung up at halftime and called back.