Is It Too Soon to Call This a Rivalry?

How do you define a rivalry? When I think of rivalries, I think of hatred towards an opponent. Even as someone who has grown up in the state of Kansas, immediately the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry comes to mind. On a national scale, that has to be one of the most intense rivalries that has ever existed. Fans from different pockets of the United States will argue that their rivalry is the most heated in the country. Fans of Alabama and Auburn (the Iron Bowl) hate each other so much as to even stoop to acts of illegality just to express their "love" of their team and "hatred" of the opponent. Poisoning trees? Really? Other rivalry games exist that most people outside of the game don't even know exist. Does anyone know who plays in the "Black and Blue Bowl?" I'll give you the answer at the end of the blog if you don't know the answer. Mention the "Border War" around here and I'm sure that everyone will answer Colorado and Wyoming. No seriously, Colorado and Wyoming.

Last night's double OT thriller between Kansas State and West Virginia has the makings to be a true rivalry. A couple of vocabulary words for today: Rivalry (n): An act of competing or emulating. Emulating (v): To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation.

Watching Bob Huggins' and Frank Martin's teams play each other last night just exemplified both of those definitions. Fran Frashilla mentioned several times during the broadcast that it was like watching an intrasquad scrimmage. With the exception of the last few minutes of regulation and the first few of the first overtime period, when WVU went to a 1-3-1 zone, both teams played that hard nosed man-to-man defense that have been a staple of Huggins' coached teams. That philosophy has carried over to K-State through Frank Martin. Huggins said in the post game "We don't generally play against people who play as hard as we do," which is further evidence that these two programs mirror each other. Even when Huggins tried to throw a defensive wrinkle at K-State, the Wildcats were ready. It was obvious that K-State had prepared well for the 1-3-1 so it didn't take the Wildcats long to use Gipson to take advantage of the lack of size on the back of the zone and get WVU out of it. Chalk one up for the pupil. When Kevin Jones hit the game tying three pointed at the end of regulation, Martin commented that he should have known what his mentor was planning to do. Chalk one up for the teacher. In the end, it was West Virginia walking off the court with the 85-80 win. Chalk the final one up to the teacher.

With WVU moving to the Big XII as early as next year, this has the ability to become an instant rivalry. There was talk before the game about how Huggins would be received by K-State fans. He was greeted with mostly cheers and a few boos scattered in. If this game would have been played the year after he left Kansas State, then the reception would have been much more hostile. However, Martin has had time to put his stamp on the program and most K-State fans are grateful to Huggins for bringing Martin to K-State and for the work Huggins did when he left for West Virginia. If it weren't for Huggins' influence on the K-State athletic department to hire Martin and his influence on the recruits to honor their commitment to the Wildcats, then who knows where this program would be. We could be back to the Wooldridge days of K-State fans waiting for another football season. Instead, the influence that Huggins made here has helped build this program into one that should be able to compete for conference championships on the hardwood.

Many K-State fans were probably excited to see Missouri move to the SEC because of the hope that Kansas would see the Sunflower Showdown as more of a rivalry game. The fact that both teams are in the state of Kansas means that it will always have that rivalry. But after last night, and all of the subplots that go with the Huggins-Martin-Wildcat connections, this Wildcat fan is looking forward to developing a new rival within the new landscape of the Big XII. And further, having a rivalry that isn't built on hatred, but on mutual respect for the competing programs. I'm sure that West Virginia fans won't feel quite the same as 'Cat fans do, but after watching the game last night, there has to be some sense that this could be a natural rival for them as well.

The "Black and Blue Bowl" is between Memphis and Southern Miss by the way.