I tend to think of a rivalry as a game that matters even if one of the teams isn’t any good. Most of the rivalries he lists fit that bill, but the two involving Purdue don’t. When I was a freshman in college, both IU and Michigan had been the final four in the previous year and returned nearly all key players (including the entire Fab Five for U-M). There’s no doubt that for a single year, IU-Michigan surpassed IU-Purdue, but that didn’t make IU-Michigan a true rivalry. Once the Fab Five and Steve Fisher went away, so did the spotlight on the game.

Even by his own standards, the U-M-Purdue thing is wierd. Does he really think one bloody nose and the resulting ejection make that a more intense rivalry than Michigan-MSU? And then he has IU-Wisconsin in the honorable mention category because Crean and Bo Ryan don’t like each other. Odd all around.

That has some serious potential to be a good game for the next few years. Those two teams cane play some damn good basketball, and it helps that Butler is one of my guilty pleasures. I love watching them because they play the game the way it should be played.

1. IU – Obviously, there is reason to hate them with a passion. They had a down year last year, but they will be back next year. We don’t want to overlook that game.

2. Illinois – It might seem that this one is from left field. But They are always talking up the Bruce Webber/Matt Painter formerly working under Gene Keady thing. And since we both play very similar styles of basketball, it leads to exciting games every time. Plus, being from Illinois and having half of my extended family go there, I like being able to run my mouth about Purdue at family parties.

3. Wisconsin – Somehow the game between the two most physical teams in the Big Ten is not listed as a rivalry by Forde. We all know that there is some bad blood between these teams (a.k.a. Krabbenhoft laying out LewJack at half court last year). It always turns into a very physical game.

Honorable Mention for a game I wish we would have every year – Louisville – If we continue at this high level of play for many years, why not put us up against the top competition year in and year out. When we beat Louisville two years ago in a game played halfway in between our cities (Indianapolis) that gave me the hope that these freshman were going to be something special. All but one (Scott Martin) are juniors now. I think that this would be a great game year in and year out. Hell, it might even increase the Purdue fan base in Indianapolis (taking away fans from IU would be fun).