D
ec. 10, 2011. Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana.
Christian Watford becomes an Indiana cult hero by
draining a 3-pointer at the buzzer to boost the
Hoosiers over top-ranked and eventual national
champion Kentucky, after which the court previously most
famous for Bob Knight throwing a chair onto it is awash
with red-clad fans in paroxysms of joy. Keion Brooks Jr. was
11 years old.
That was the last time Kentucky and Indiana have met
in the regular season in a rivalry that was once must-see
TV in the Bluegrass, the Hoosier State and beyond.
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The two sides reportedly couldn’t agree on where to play
the series; then-Hoosiers coach Tom Crean wanted to stage
the spectacle in Assembly Hall and Rupp Arena in alternat-
ing years; Cats coach John Calipari, an on-record proponent
of neutral-site showdowns to prepare for them in tourna-
ment play, did not.
So, do the famously hoops-crazy progeny of Indiana still
consider the Big Blue a rival, considering there are kids
well into elementary school now who weren’t on this earth
to see the last scheduled Hoosiers-Cats border skirmish?
(It’s worth noting, of course, they’ve met in tournament
play twice since then.)
Brooks, a Fort Wayne, Indiana product who picked
Kentucky over his home-state school, is adamant, both in
the passion that still smolders and in distancing himself
from it.
“Yeah, of course,” the freshman forward said at media
day. “For me, I never really thought that way; I just like to
hoop. That’s what it comes down to. There’s a lot of kids
still from Indiana that hate Kentucky, and pretty sure some
Kentucky people that hate Indiana, but that has nothing to
do with me.”
Asked about Indiana fans’ feedback to his decision to
come south, Brooks, with a slight grin, paused, thought
hard, and declined comment.
Brooks instead focused on why he made the choice he
did. One reason: Kentucky’s adeptness under Calipari to
contribute to the NBA mill — what secondary-school
educators might call “career readiness.”
“For me personally, to see where the game is going
and how coach Cal is adapting and being receptive to
what’s going on in the NBA and trying to implement
that here in college,” Brooks said, “I feel like he’s doing
a great job of making sure that his players are ready
to get there and they’re not taken by surprise by
anything that’s going on in the NBA.”
“Smaller” lineups may be the pro trend du jour,
and Cal has claimed a willingness to embrace
them -- placing players in positions that in years
past would’ve been anchored near the basket who
instead can handle the ball in space and display
shooting touch from the mid-range and the perimeter.
Brooks’s talents help give Kentucky that option.
“He’s got a good feel for the game,” Calipari said of
Brooks. “He may play some stretch 4 (the number tradi-
tionally associated with power forwards) for us because he
gives us that length and size and ability to space the court.
And it’s hard for 4s to guard him ... he can do things with
that ball, and a lot of stuff he starts like he’s a guard.”