Pecking order

OK, so first the obvious: This is a renewal that never should have had to be renewed.

And now the pretty much obvious: John Calipari is still what Colonel Sanders coats in 11 secret herbs and spices and fries up for the masses.

It's childish and bad form to call a man chicken, but since no one does childish and bad form like the Blob, we'll allow it. Also it has the advantage of being true in this case.

See, Indiana and Kentucky are going to play each other in basketball again after a 14-year hiatus that happened because both schools were stiff-necked and, yes, a little chicken. Indiana didn't want to play its part of the home-and-home away from Assembly Hall, and Kentucky didn't want to play in Assembly Hall.  So they parted company like a bunch of big weenies.

You can blame both parties for that, but mostly Kentucky. Also Christian Watford.

It was Watford, after all, who hit Watford For The Win in the Hall in 2011, when Indiana upset then-No. 1 Kentucky. Indiana fans stormed the court. The replay ran on a seemingly endless loop. "Watford for the win!" -- Dan Shulman's memorable call -- became almost as iconic in Indiana as Al Michaels' "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" was in the wider world.

Watching the Call and the Shot over and over apparently drove Calipari up a wall. Because he refused to play in Assembly Hall ever again, which precipitated the shutdown of the series.

Well, it's back now. But here's the thing: While Indiana will be playing two games in Rupp Arena, and the teams will also play a game in Lucas Oil Stadium. But there won't be another meeting in Assembly Hall until 2028.

By which time Calipari, now 64, may well have retired.

The chicken.

Of course, it goes without saying letting the series go dark for 14 years because of what you could call Calipari's "pecking" order was totally ridiculous.  IU-Kentucky might not have been IU-Purdue or Duke-North Carolina, after all, but it was damn close. Two schools with 13 national championship banners between them, and only 180 miles and the Ohio River to separate them? How could they not knock heads and pedigrees every year?

This might have been what Mike Woodson was asking when he arrived in Bloomington, which is why he said Indiana and Kentucky needed to start playing again straightaway. He had an athletic director in Scott Dolson who was fully on board, and who also had a close relationship with Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart. 

And so, here we go. The series resumes in 2025 in Lexington. And if I'm Mike Woodson, I know who I'm inviting to sit on the Indiana bench next to him.

Christian Watford.

Who else?