Poll: If you could have only one, beat Duke ... or Tennessee?
It seems like a simple enough question.
If you could choose only one, would Cats’ fans rather Kentucky beat Duke in basketball Tuesday night or Kentucky beat Tennessee in football on Saturday?
(If you arrived at this page via the mobile Twitter app and the poll hasn’t loaded above, please copy and paste the original link into your preferred mobile browser. Sometimes Twitter does not load the poll correctly. You may also need to change the opening to the web address from AMP to WWW.)
As much as Kentucky football fans might want to beat Tennessee after 16 straight losses to the Vols in Knoxville, does a consequential football game mean more to them than what will likely be a very interesting, but largely inconsequential season-opening basketball game against the hated Duke Blue Devils?
Remember, a Kentucky football win over Tennessee will help in the rankings and with prospects for a bigger, better bowl. A loss, will fully side-track the momentum UK has built. The Cats will still go bowling, but to the Sugar, Peach or Fiesta? A loss to the Vols won’t help.
Meanwhile, a UK basketball loss to Duke in the Champions Classic will surely sting the pride and send the Cats down the rankings, but it’s November, not March.
However, some UK fans probably just hate Duke that much. It’s not a stretch to say so.
Tennessee leads the football rivalry 79-25-9, but is a 3.5 point underdog to the Cats this year in Knoxville. Kentucky won the 2017 game in Lexington 29-26.
UK leads the all-time basketball series with Duke 12-9, including a 74-63 win in the same event in 2016. UK is a 1.5 point favorite Tuesday in Indianapolis. But for UK fans there is no more soul-crushing loss in their history than the Christian Laettner game in 1992, a moment replayed every March Madness and a defeat no win since has really ever truly avenged for many.
So, which is it? Take a moment to vote in our poll.