IU and Louisville are currently negotiating a three-year series, IU Coach Tom Crean confirmed Tuesday.
Louisville Coach Rick Pitino reaffirmed that he wanted to start a series last December after the Cardinals defeated the Hoosiers 94-74 at Madison Square Garden. He again mentioned it Monday on his weekly radio show.
Pitino said the series would have the potential to begin next season at a neutral site, likely either Lucas Oil Stadium or Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis depending on date availability. The next two games would be a home-and-home series between Assembly Hall and the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
Crean said he wasn’t able to talk specific details of the potential series, but did admit the schools were looking into the possibility.
“I respect Rick a lot,” Crean said. “I would say that, if we get this series completed, a three-year series, a series of that magnitude really deserves the respect of an official announcement and it being a big deal. Because it would be.”
Pitino has been saying since the 2012 NCAA Tournament that he’d begin a regular series whenever Crean and IU were ready. It appears now may be the time.
Lucas Oil Stadium could potentially hold about 70,000 fans while Bankers Life Fieldhouse would be closer to 21,000. Those ticket sales would be split between the two schools, Pitino said.
The potential matchup would be the first reoccurring nonconference series between IU and another program since the end of the IU-Kentucky matchups following the 2011-12 season. That particular series was ended thanks to disagreements over location as the Hoosiers wanted the games on campus while the Wildcats wanted a neutral site.
IU’s 2015-16 nonconference schedule is busy even without a Louisville series.
The Hoosiers will return to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational for the first time since 2008, participate in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge and also are committed to another Crossroads Classic matchup scheduled to be against Notre Dame.
IU may also be included in the inaugural Gavitt Games, a series played between eight Big Ten and Big East teams.
“Are we in the midst of that among other things that we’re doing? Absolutely we are in the midst of that, and we have been,” Crean said. “A lot of things have to get worked out. ... Like I said, I hope when that time comes, it’s a big enough deal that it deserves the proper announcement.”
Sam Beishuizen
