Kentucky and Gonzaga are two of the biggest names in the college basketball world.
Both teams figure to compete for a national championship in the '22-23 season, and probably in some upcoming seasons.
They'll also play one another during the non-conference season for six straight years. The games will take place in different venues with Rupp Arena the only building to host more than one of the upcoming contests.
Cats Illustrated writers share their takes on the upcoming games and what it means for both the programs and the sport as a whole.
Jeff Drummond: What a great development for college basketball. The sport definitely needs more marquee matchups between its elite programs prior to the NCAA Tournament. Somewhere along the way, we kind of got away from that, so hopefully this signals a return to that old-school scheduling. I hope some of the other games in this series occur later in the season, when both teams have a chance to develop their rosters a little more, but I won't nitpick because it will be great to get the Cats and Zags on any date. I think it was important to have at least half of this series be played in home arenas. Perhaps sparked by large numbers of empty seats at Rupp Arena in recent years, Kentucky seems to have taken its fans' concerns to heart by securing two home games with Gonzaga. It will also be cool to see UK visit The Kennel in 2027, although I did kinda smile a bit when I saw that and wondered if Coach Cal might be saddling the next UK head coach with that assignment. The neutral site game in Nashville might be a nod to giving fans in the western part of the state an additional opportunity to see the Cats, which, if so, is a nice gesture.
Travis Graf: These matchups are fantastic for college basketball and providing home games for each program is an even bigger deal than the marquee neutral site matchups. It’s a combination of teams that college basketball fans aren’t used to seeing facing off against one another so it’ll add a new level of excitement. Gonzaga always has a chip on their shoulder against the traditional powers as they believe they need a seat at that table. This series will be a great, consistent measuring stick for the Bulldogs and give Kentucky fans another strong out of conference opponent that ‘Cats fans have been lobbying for. Even more so, it gives them two marquee games at Rupp Arena, which has been a sore spot for the fan base in recent years.
Justin Rowland: It's really cool they're making this happen. We're talking about two of the five biggest name programs in the sport right now, so these games need to happen more often. It's cool that they will be playing in a number of different venues as well. I expect these programs to bring out the best in one another and these will be must see TV events for college basketball fans across the country. Gonzaga is reliably a top-10 team so it's going to be a great barometer for where the Cats are, probably in each of the seasons this game is played. There are a few teams I'd like to see Kentucky play every year non-conference (UofL, Indiana, UNC) and the Zags wouldn't be in that group, but they'd be along with
