How do you measure a rivalry? Is it in the media coverage or the distance between the schools? Is it in whether it has a clever name or whether Stuart Scott used to rave about it? Is it measured in references in pop culture, whether most of the staff of ESPN’s college basketball crew went to one of the schools, or how often the teams meet? I’d posit its none of the these. The way to measure a true rivalry is whether a fight might break out at any moment.
Watch coverage of any rivalry and you’ll get positive platitudes about the opponent, see pregame handshakes, and hear the announcers mention how much the programs respect each other.