“I don’t know because, again, you’re dealing with a limited calendar,” said Mack. “For instance, the University of Cincinnati, we were supposed to play our second game of the season against those guys at their place. Talking to John Brannen, how fair is it for us to play their home game in front of literally no fans and then have him return the game? And I think the same thing holds true for the Louisville-Kentucky game. Where is the equity of Kentucky coming here in front of no fans and then having to go back to Rupp Arena in front of 21,000 fans?
Calipari responded with a statement last week and then another one Tuesday.
“I’m not going to tell you what they’re thinking or what they’re doing,” Cal said of Louisville. “I just know the terms of the contract. We go there and they come here next year. Does anybody really know what this virus is going to do? What if we’re in next year and we’re in the same boat? Then we’ve got them at home with no fans. We don’t know. This virus is running us. We are not running this virus. You’d have to talk to them.
“My hope is we’re playing the game this year but we’re prepared if not. I’m not going to wait and they tell me no. Boom, they say no. Bang, we’ve got another home and home. Here it is. The people want to play us. They want to beat Kentucky. They want to go against [us]. I think that game is good for our state. It should be played but I’m running Kentucky’s program. That’s what I do. I’m not telling any other program what they should and should not do.”
That quote brings us to Tuesday evening when Mack decided enough is enough. Before announcing that Louisville and Kentucky will play at the KFC Yum! Center, Mack threw Calipari and Kentucky under the bus for backing out of an agreed-upon date for December 12. According to Mack, UK called ESPN in hopes of changing one of Louisville’s conference games.
Check out the video below.
