NCAA Bracket 2012: Kentucky Won't Be Fooled Twice by Indiana

It will have been nearly three-and-a-half months since Indiana first knocked off Kentucky by the time these two border-state rivals meet in the Sweet 16 of the 2012 NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Just don't expect the result to resemble the 73-72 thriller that the Hoosiers came away with on a spot-up three by Christian Watford at the buzzer.

Sure, Tom Crean's club won't cower in fear before John Calipari's enviable collection of NBA Draft lottery talent, not after being one of two teams (along with Vanderbilt) to upend the Lexingtonians this season.

But, that's not to say the Hoosiers are at all a probable pick to spring yet another upset on Big Blue.

For one, IU will be without Verdell Jones III. The senior point guard played a steady floor game for the Hoosiers in December—with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal—but was knocked out by a ligament tear in his knee during the Big Ten tournament.

Those Hoosiers benefited tremendously from the sheer energy and raucous atmosphere of the thousands of students behind them at Assembly Hall that day. They lost just once on campus all season (to Minnesota) but went just 7-7 outside of Bloomington prior to the Big Dance.

Last I checked, the rematch will be a way's away from Indiana—at Philips Arena in Atlanta, to be exact, much closer to the Wildcats' home territory than that of the Hoosiers. There will be no "red-out" this time around, not with half the Bluegrass State slated to invade the ATL this week.

Nor will IU see the same Kentucky club, at least as far as experience is concerned. The crew of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb had played all of eight games together before that fateful day, though two had come against Kansas and North Carolina.

Now, those 'Cats may consider themselves rather well seasoned, having run through the SEC schedule with nary a blemish until the tournament title game. They've also won twice in the Big Dance, by 15 points against Western Kentucky and by 16 against a strong Iowa State squad.

And, frankly, UK should have won the first time around and would have had it not been for that miraculous shot by Watford at the end. The 'Cats shot 55.6 percent from the field that day, compared to just 43.1 percent for the Hoosiers, but were out-rebounded (slightly) and out-hustled overall by the home team.

You can bet that slim margin of defeat left a bad taste in Kentucky's mouth, and that the 'Cats will relish the opportunity to exact revenge in a big way, especially knowing how close they came last time and with so much on the line. 

Enough for UK to give a definitive answer to the age-old question, "Hoosier daddy?"

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