Louisville vs. Kentucky Basketball Game

Louisville and Lexington. Both situated within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Both reared in bluegrass tradition. Both wildly fanatical basketball cities.

So why all the fuss?

Bragging rights. The basketball programs at both colleges are fiercely strong, perennially competitive, and have the rampant support of each city for lack of a major league sports team in either.

A horse can only take you so far. And having dominantly cornered the bourbon market, Kentuckians were wont for a new hobby.

Enter the intrastate rivalry of the eighties and nineties.

The yearly b-ball game is called the Battle for the Bluegrass, and it flared up in a serious fashion when the Wildcats met the Cardinals in the elite eight during the 1983 NCAA tournament.

Since that fateful tournament meeting the two teams have met each year – usually in late December or early January – and have stoked the fires of rivalry just in time for March Madness to begin.

Kentucky leads the series overall, but Louisville certainly likes to instigate.