The Indiana-Kentucky basketball series demise and revival: A timeline

John Calipari announced Wednesday that Indiana and Kentucky have agreed in principle to revive their men's basketball series in the 2025-26 season with specifics still to be ironed out, which means the return of Indiana's most passionate non-conference rivalry.

The Hoosiers and Wildcats have played 57 times, which is the second-most meetings Indiana has with any non-conference opponent behind its 73 with Notre Dame. Kentucky has won 32 of those, but the most recent regular season contest was won by the Hoosiers on a last-second 3-point shot by Christian Watford that brought forth an epic court-storming on to the Assembly Hall floor on Dec. 10, 2011.

Insider:More than IU, Kentucky need each other, college basketball needs them both

After that game, Calipari and Kentucky decided not to continue the series, which at that point had been a tradition in December or early January going back to 1969. The series had at times been held at neutral sites, alternating between Indianapolis and Louisville each year from 1991-2005, but it had been exclusively on-campus from 2006-11. That was a point of contention that led to the series dissolution.

Since it ended, speculation and discussion of what it might take to bring the rivalry back has popped up multiple times per year, usually in offseasons and around the anniversary of what is locally known as the Wat Shot. What follows is a timeline of the series' demise and its return.

Dec. 10, 2011

Indiana knocks off then No. 1 and unbeaten Kentucky on Christian Watford's last-second 3-point shot and Hoosiers fans storm the Assembly Hall floor. Calipari was complimentary of Indiana after the game and particularly of IU coach Tom Crean, a long-time friend, but was not pleased with the behavior of IU fans. At least one Kentucky fan, a model named Megan Dills, reported being injured during the celebration. It is the last game on the contract between the two schools.

March 23, 2012

Kentucky defeats Indiana 102-90 in the NCAA Tournament South Regional semifinals at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to advance to the Elite Eight and end the Hoosiers season. The Wildcats move on to defeat Kansas in the national title game in New Orleans. They finish 38-2 with their only losses coming against Indiana and against Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament.

May 3, 2012

After extensive negotiation about a new playing contract, Indiana athletic director Fred Glass releases a statement telling fans that the series will not be renewed, saying that IU wanted the series to be continued at campus sites and that Kentucky wanted the games to be played at neutral locations including LucasOil Stadium in Indianapolis.

"In the final analysis, we want our student-athletes, our overall student body and our season-ticket holders to enjoy this series at Assembly Hall," Glass said at the time.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart acknowledged that Kentucky was hopeful to move the series to neutral sites and was willing to play multiple games in Indianapolis, but that Calipari was hoping not to play at Assembly Hall.

May 30, 2012

The Bloomington Herald-Times obtains a letter sent from Glass to Barnhart that shows that negotiations re-opened on May 10 and that Indiana offered to play at Lucas Oil Stadium in December of 2012 and 2013, then move the series back to campus sites for 2014 and 2015 so that that students in the IU freshman class of 2012 would get to see IU play Kentucky on campus at least once in four years at IU. Kentucky ultimately rejects the offer, saying it will not sign contracts for non-conference series for longer than two seasons. The Wildcats had also scheduled home games with Portland and Samford for the time around when they would normally play Indiana and would not back out of those contracts.

June 5-6, 2012

Calipari says at a press conference in Kentucky that he told Crean, a long time friend "‘Tommy — move on, we have our schedule and you have your schedule and our schedule is tough." Crean fires back at Indiana's tailgate tour at Huber Farms Winery in southern Indiana, saying that he told Calipari to move on. "It's obviously not going to happen," Crean said. "In my opinion, I don't think he wants to come to Bloomington. I don't think that's a secret. It is what it is."

During the event for fans and donors, Crean poked fun at Calipari for thinking Indianapolis is two hours away from Bloomington and not one, and IU play-by-play man Don Fischer joked about Kentucky's demands to continue the series.

The two programs do move on, and the series is discontinued.

May 7, 2014

Kentucky announces that it will be part of the inaugural CBS Sports Classic, a December neutral site event that will also include UCLA, North Carolina and Ohio State. It begins as a three-year event with rotating matchups and different locations each year. In 2017, Kentucky deputy athletic director DeWayne Peevy acknowledges in an interview a poorly kept secret, that Indiana was offered the opportunity to be part of the event, but turned it down because of the scheduling conflict with the Crossroads Classic, which had renewed its contract in 2014 through 2021.

March 19, 2016

No. 5 seed Indiana beats No. 4 seed Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA East Regional to advance to the Sweet 16 where the Hoosiers lose to eventual runner-up North Carolina. It remains the last time the two teams have met.

March 25, 2017

Indiana hires Archie Miller as its head coach. Like Calipari, Miller grew up in the suburbs west of Pittsburgh, so Calipari was close with Miller's family. Calipari is asked about Miller before Kentucky plays in an Elite Eight game against Kentucky and says "“If I were hiring a coach, I would hire Archie." One of Miller's first assistant coach hires is Bruiser Flint, who had been on Calipari's staff at Massachusetts in the 1990s before becoming his successor.

One of the first questions Miller receives at his opening press conference is about rekindling the rivalry.

"That’s far removed from where I’ve come from,” Miller said. “So that’s something I think Fred and I will discuss and see how that happens. I know it’s an important piece to the puzzle here with our tradition. But right now we’ll just focus on the day at hand.”

Glass left the possibility open, saying he would even be open to a neutral site move.

"I want to try to play the game, and if we need to play somewhere else," Glass said. "I’m open to doing that."

June 2, 2017

Miller, a little more comfortable in his new role, says at the annual Huber Farms event that the Kentucky series "has to happen" and jokes with Flint that it is on him to get it done.

Aug. 20, 2020

Miller appears on the Aaron Torres Podcast on Kentucky Sports Radio and is asked about the series. He says he remains hopeful that the series will return and that he would be open to it being played at neutral sites, but says that in the three years he has been on the job and despite their longtime connection, he and Calipari have never discussed the series.

"I think a lot of people want it to happen," Miller said on the podcast. "I think conversations fly through both offices at times. Cal and I have never spoken directly about it. I think we’ve had intermediaries [talk about it]. I think we’ve had our administrations bump around and talk about it.”

March 29, 2021

Former IU All-American Mike Woodson is hired as Indiana's new head coach following the firing of Miller. Woodson isn't asked about scheduling on the day of his hiring, but in a press conference two months later he mentions wanting to schedule "the Kentuckys and Kansases and teams of that nature." Anytime he is asked about non-conference scheduling in his first offseason, he mentions the idea of playing Kentucky.

Dec. 14, 2021

Days before Indiana plays Notre Dame in the final edition of the Crossroads Classic, Indiana announces a home-and-home series with Kansas, sending a message that under Woodson, it plans to use the new-found opening in its schedule to pursue marquee matchups. It will later also announce a neutral site game on Dec. 10 against Arizona.

May 25, 2022

At the first Huber Farms Winery IU Tailgate Tour event since the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodson is greeted with questions about the Kentucky-Indiana series and says that he has been in discussions with Calipari to pursue it. He says Calipari does not want to play on campus, but that's OK with him.

“I'm not gonna let it die," Woodson says. "I’m gonna stay on his heels about trying to get the Kentucky-Indiana series back on the table. Over the years that was a helluva game. It might not be Bloomington-Lexington. However we’ve got to get it done, I’ll take it.”

During his speech to fans he details his attempts further and says Calipari "didn't want any part" of playing in Bloomington, but says to Dolson "Scott, we gotta get this done."

Oct. 12, 2022

Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com reports that Indiana and Kentucky are in "advanced discussions" to resume the series.

Oct. 19, 2022

Calipari tells reporters at SEC Media Days in Birmingham that the two programs have agreed in principle to play again in 2025-26 and the specifics of the series are "at the administrative level."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU basketball vs. Kentucky series: History Hoosiers, Wildcats rivalry