LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I'm not a fan of booking the annual Louisville-Kentucky men's basketball game for Nov. 11, the second Tuesday night of the season.
But University of Louisville athletic director Josh Heird said the early November date is the result of a combination of factors and that he and coach Pat Kelsey are working on "a few other" non-league games with juice.
"When it's all said and done, our fans will feel pretty good about our schedule," Heird said.
Heird wasn't kidding. He told me that before noon Thursday. By 5 p.m., the Cards announced they were starting a six-year series with Memphis, a rival back from the days in the Missouri Valley, Metro and Conference USA. The first game is booked for Dec. 13 at the KFC Yum! Center.
The grumbling about the Nov. 11 date is understandable. Generally, this has been a weekend game played in late December.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Bozich & Crawford
But remember this: Kentucky booked games for the first three weekends in December with Gonzaga, Indiana and St. John's.
Heird said the schools and networks had to work around those obligations, Louisville's obligations and television openings.
"From a TV standpoint, it's not just college basketball that ESPN has to navigate," Heird said. "They have Monday night football, NBA, college football, etc."
In other words, scheduling is a complicated process, even six months in advance. But assuming the annual rivalry remains on the schedule for the 2026-27 season, I hope it finds its usual spot in December.
Nov. 11 is a date best reserved for opponents like Evansville, Manhattan and Tennessee-Martin. The last three times the Cards played on Nov. 11 — 2016, 2012 and 2011 — those are programs that U of L played.
It's a No Big Deal date for a Big, Big, Big Deal game — unless it's the season opener.
It's not the season opener. The men's season will open Nov. 3. Louisville plans to play at least once before hosting the Wildcats. I assume Mark Pope will do the same with his talented UK squad.
No matter how relentlessly ESPN and its armada of Duke graduates hype the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, the Louisville-Kentucky game remains the most compelling non-conference game on the calendar.
Unlike the Tobacco Road series, the Cards and the Wildcats play once, not two or three times. The winner of the game has bragging rights. Period. End of discussion.
Unlike the Tobacco Road series, one of these programs (Kentucky) once had to be strong-armed into playing the other. I'm not sure how you measure bile but competitive animosity between U of L and UK ranks at the top of the charts — no matter how many times ESPN rolls its Tyler Hansbrough video.
Any stories you have heard about folks in the U of L athletic department annually counting the column inches devoted to the U of L and UK football and basketball programs every week in The Courier Journal are absolutely true. So are the stories about folks at Kentucky asking why several Louisville TV stations chose red, not blue, as the color for their official station winter jackets.
Maybe Louisville has to do its part to make the rivalry riveting. The Cards have lost three straight, six of seven, 10 of 12 and 14 of 17 to the Wildcats.
I'm certain Kelsey is working on that. It's early for point spreads, but I wouldn't be surprised if Louisville was the favorite next season at the KFC Yum! Center.
After a one-year visit to early November, I hope the game returns to late December the following season. Six weeks of play gives both teams have more time to grow and form. And more eyeballs will twist towards college basketball with the college football season winding down.
It's the best rivalry in college basketball — and deserves appropriate treatment.
That said, let me say this: Hat tip to Kelsey, Pope and Indiana coach Darian DeVries for the early leaks on each program's nonconference schedule.
Nobody is running from top competition.
In addition to hosting Kentucky, the Cards are booked for a Dec. 16 trip to Knoxville to play Rick Barnes and Tennessee. It's the return trip for the game UT lost by 22 points last season. You'll find the Vols ranked No. 11 in Bart Torvik's preseason analytics numbers. Barnes, remember, outmaneuvered U of L, UK, Duke and others to land a commitment from forward Nate Ament, one of the top 10 players in 2025 high school class.
Don't forget Louisville and Indiana will play Dec. 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. And the Cards will get a third SEC opponent in the ACC/SEC Challenge, likely on the road after hosting Ole Miss last season.
And for the first time since 2017, the Cards will play Memphis, which is coached by Penny Hardaway, with assistance from former U of L assistant Nolan Smith and former IU head coach Mike Davis. U of L leads that series 54-36.
How about (hint) Louisville at ... Arkansas with John Calipari, Kenny Payne and D.J. Wagner?
Kentucky's schedule has even more meat on the bones. Follow along:
- A preseason Oct. 24 exhibition against Purdue, likely a top-five team.
- A Nov. 18 Champions Classic game against Michigan State, a Top 25 team, in Madison Square Garden
- A neutral site battle in Nashville with Gonzaga, a top-30 team, on Dec. 5
- A visit to Rupp Arena by Indiana, a top-40 team, on Dec. 13
- A showdown with Rick Pitino and top 10 St. John's, on Dec. 20 in Atlanta
- Plus, the game with Louisville as well as another Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in the annual ACC/SEC Challenge
Well done, Mark Pope. That's not a John Calipari schedule.
Indiana has only shared the news on three non-league games — the Louisville game in Indy, the Kentucky game in Lexington and a third game away from Bloomington. The Hoosiers will play Marquette, top 50 in the early Torvik, on Nov. 9 at the United Center in Chicago.
Sovereignty is skipping the Preakness but there's always plenty to fuss about.
College Basketball Schedule:
Early Start: Louisville-Kentucky men’s basketball rivalry set for rare November tipoff
Louisville basketball stars unite for TBT showdown in July, tickets on sale Tuesday
BOZICH | U of L, UK top 15, IU top 40, Bellarmine improved in early hoops computer rankings
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