Hammer and Rails · May 13, 2017
Could Purdue/IU Become a Protected Rivalry in B1G Basketball?
Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty ImagesLast night, Mike Carmin of the Journal & Courier reported that Mike Bobinski and Matt Painter have expressed their interest in making sure Purdue and Indiana play each other twice in the regular season every year. Currently, there are no protected rivalries within Big Ten basketball, so rivals often find themselves only playing each other once in the regular season.
“IU wants it. We want it,” Bobinski said. “It makes perfect sense from your fan perspective. It makes great sense regionally because there’s great interest in those games. Why wouldn’t you play them twice? There’s going to be television interest in those games more often than not.