Without the Dream Game, the best rivalry in college hoops might not exist today. For years, the University of Kentucky refused to play the Louisville Cardinals or any other in-state rivals. The policy was established by legendary Kentucky Basketball coach Adolf Rupp and was continued by his successor, Joe B. Hall.
But the 1983 NCAA tournament ended the stand-off. Bracket play resulted in a Round of Sixteen clash between UK and UofL in nearby Knoxville, TN. Kentucky state governor John Y. Brown was infamously in attendance in a half-red, half-blue blazer. After forty minutes of thrilling, back-and-forth basketball, Louisville ran away with the game in overtime. Following the game, Governor Brown gave an impassioned speech to the Kentucky legislature, and the result was an annual rivalry game between the two schools.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the original Dream Game between the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky in the 1983 NCAA Tournament. We celebrated by shooting some update interviews with Matt Jones and Denny Crum. Yesterday we took the pulse at Wags barbershop in downtown Louisville regarding the Cardinals current tournament run. Boone was in rare form following UK’s disastrous first-round NIT loss to Robert Morris!
If you want more Kentucky Basketball goodness, check out our boy Mike Rutherford’s post on Card Chronicle. Make sure to check out our Kentucky Basketball blog to follow the progress of our one-of-a-kind sports documentary. To subscribe to the newsletter for our one-of-a-kind basketball movie, please visit our homepage.
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