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| Missouri defeated Kansas in the final Big 12 matchup in Columbia... |
Kansas and Missouri have had one of the fiercest rivalries since the time Dr. James Naismith first got the idea to hang up the peach baskets and play the game of basketball. Naismith himself was KU's coach when the teams first met over 100 years ago when Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the series. After the newest installments of the Border War in 2012 Kansas leads the all-time series record 172-95, but the last two games were arguably the best in the rivalry and the teams each won a game.
The absence of the rivalry this season is the new stone-cold reality of college sports hitting us in the face. There is no more Kansas-Missouri. There is no more Oklahoma-Nebraska. Soon there will be no more Syracuse-UConn or Maryland-Duke. Those rivalries no longer exist, and for what? For money. That's it.
The conference realignment seems to be a fad these days. One team moved and everyone else followed suit, but does it really need to happen? The landscape of college sports is changing, but is it for the better? During a college basketball season like the one we are in the midst of now, a Kansas and Missouri game would be the icing on the cake. There have been an excess of great games and surprise upsets and both teams are having solid seasons.
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| ...but KU answered with a huge comeback victory later in March |
There are plenty of rivalries that have ended due to conference realignment and it's sad. Whether you are a fan of the teams or not, it's bad for college sports. Kansas and Missouri need each other, but more importantly, the game of college basketball need them to play each other. Unfortunately, no one has figured this out yet and so instead, fans are supposed to get excited about a bland matchup such as Missouri-Ole Miss or Kansas-TCU.
No matter how long Missouri and Kansas remain absent from each others' schedules, fans of both teams will still consider the other their greatest rival. It's something that was built over the span of 100+ years and it will take much longer to tear it down. The same can be said for several other rivalries that have seen the same fate. The sad part about it all though, is that the schools, conferences and the NCAA have taken the first step to tearing down the very thing that make the collegiate sports special.
Yet that's the power of money and the power of greed. In the end, the dollar trumps all and it's taken away some of the best things sports had to offer.
I think you are 100% right on this topic, right on target. There is no doubt, for me at least, that the Maryland and Duke rivalry will be missed. I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old watching the Terps and Blue Devils fight it out each year. Maryland is (or in this case was) my favorite ACC team, I would always cheer for the Terps unless they played my beloved Buckeyes. With the Terps not likely to play Duke in the near future, I will have to rely on other rivalries to keep me interested. It is hard for me to look at these teams moving and completely disregarding tradition of these historic rivalries. Maryland and Duke in my mind is a good reflection of how Ohio State and Michigan are in most sports. This was a game I would mark on the calendar and always look forward to watch.
ReplyDeleteKansas and Missouri I will admit that I am not as familiar with, but I watched these two teams duke it out and I was amazed in how much passion and respect each of these teams had for each other. I was saddened to hear that another great rivalry was being taken away.
Now I guess this is what I would say about the future of college basketball. College basketball other than the Tournament I think will be good, but will not draw people in like it use to do. The only reason I watched college basketball when I was little was to watch rivalry games with the passion and respect of old foes like Duke vs. Maryland and Kansas vs. Missouri. Sure, new rivalries will form, but sometimes you have to go home again to change a quote and play the blasts from the past.