All the old gang is getting back together.
According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Louisville and Cincinnati are set to renew their decades-long hoops rivalry with a pair of games scheduled for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons.
The scheduling news comes with a catch.
This season’s game will reportedly be played at the “neutral” site of Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, with the return game in 2026 being played at the “neutral” site of Freedom Hall in Louisville.
The philosophy here is fairly straightforward: A home game against any team ranked 1-30 in the NET rankings counts as a “Quad-I” victory. If the game is played on a neutral court, any team ranked 1-50 satisfies the Quad-I criteria.
While working things out this way certainly makes a ton of sense, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a large part of me disappointed to see Louisville going back to play an official game at Freedom Hall. The ending in 2010 just feels too perfect to mess with. Plus, the TBT already provides the fan base with an open door to get their requisite hit of nostalgia during the summer.
Still, any slight disappointment is overwhelmed by the joy of seeing the Bearcats back on the schedule.
Kentucky, Indiana, Memphis State, Cincinnati and Tennessee (plus, John Calipari, Kenny Payne and Arkansas?) all on the schedule. This is going to be an absolutely insane five-month ride, in all the best ways imaginable.
